The Death and Rebirth of Harmony
by The masked author1
Summary: Equestria is faced with the reappearance of an ancient foe that threatens everything before it. The Mane Six, Spike, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be put to the ultimate test as they journey to find the answers needed to solve this crisis and avert the possible destruction of the world. Possible character death ahead. Multiple shipping possibilities inside.
1. Appearance of an old foe

**The Death and Rebirth of Harmony**

**Chapter 1: Appearance of an old foe**

"Whew! Last one," Spike said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and climbed down the ladder, carrying a hammer in his other hand and a bag of nails suspended from his neck.

It was three days ago that Ponyville had started experiencing earthquakes. At first it was just minor, more like aftershocks, sporadic in appearance and nothing very damaging. But by the third day the frequency and magnitude had reached the point where structural damage was a very good possibility. All over town the various buildings were showing various levels of damage, from broken windows and cracked foundation, to damage that couldn't be seen on the surface. At the library things were a little bit different; being built from an ancient tree meant some degree of greater durability than the other buildings, and the magical lightning rod did help some. But for Twilight Sparkle the damage was much greater than it would be for others; everytime there was a quake the books would all fall off of their shelves and pile onto the floor. Twilight hadn't even had the time to organize them back onto a single shelf before another quake hit and shook them back off again.

Finally Twilight simply used her magic and shoved them back on the shelves, vowing to organize them once the earthquakes had ended, and Spike -being a good little assistant- had procured some random lumber and was hammering boards across the shelves to keep the books from falling off again. Twilight meanwhile had been analyzing the seismic vibrations of the ground leading up to this point, and was currently acting as a warning system, the glow of her horn indicating how soon another one would hit.

"And just in time Spike, another quake's about to hit. Hurry up and get down from there!" Twilight told him.

Sure enough the ground began to violently shake yet again. Spike had barely managed to get off the ladder and dive under the table before it all started, bringing the ladder down next to the table he was under and rattling the books. This went on for about a minute before it finally subsided. Seeing everything still standing Twilight let out a sigh of relief.

"I don't get it Twilight, what's causing all of these earthquakes? Ponyville's never been like this," Spike asked as he crawled out from under the ladder.

"I dunno Spike it's really unusual. Ponyville isn't in a geographic location that's really prone to earthquakes so this shouldn't be happening, and certainly not with this great of a frequency," Twilight replied, absentmindedly using her magic to summon a book on the history of Equestria to see if it held any answers that could be referenced.

"Twilight!"

Twilight jumped at her name being yelled. She turned and saw Pinkie Pie standing at the door and looking very worried.

"Twilight are you alright? That last quake was a really big one! It scared Carrot and Pumpkin Cake something awful!" Pinkie stated.

"So far so good over here Pinkie, thanks for asking. But how come you're not with the Cake twins?" Twilight asked.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cake are with them right now so I'm going around town checking on my friends. But since everypony in Ponyville is my friends that makes for a lot of stops but I had to check and make sure my really, really good friends like you guys were alright," Pinkie explained in her own way.

"Thanks Pinkie. What about the others? How're they holding up?"

"Well Rainbow Dash is doing alright but seeing as how she lives up in the clouds she really wouldn't be affected by the earthquakes but I really had to ask her anyway 'cause I didn't want to be rude and not ask her how she's doing just because of where she lives. Then I went over to the Carousel Boutique to see how Rarity's doing and she's crying because everything is disorganized and on the ground and I really couldn't help her organize anything because the quakes keep shaking it up. Next I headed over to Fluttershy's and all her animals are really shaken up and afraid. You were the last on the list before I headed over to Sweet Apple Acres to check on Applejack and how she's doing," Pinkie explained, giving a vivid recollection of where all she'd been recently, "wanna come along?"

"That would probably be a good idea. Come on Spike, let's go see Applejack," Twilight called.

"Sounds good to me Twilight, I wanna get away from things that can fall on me," Spike agreed, "let's go see Applejack."

"Yer a little late there Sugarcube," came Applejack's voice from just outside the library door right behind Pinkie Pie.

"Applejack! Pinkie jumped in excitement, "I was just-" she started but was silence by Applejack putting a hoof to her mouth.

"Ah heard yer recollection of events as ah was comin' up the way," Applejack explained, "Sweet Apple Acres is still standing and most of the trees are still alright, but every apple we had got shaken right off, plus the windows are all broken. Ah got sent up here to see about gettin' some new panes o' glass to fix 'em once this all calms down a might."

Any further conversation was cut off by a loud belch from Spike, bringing forth a large poof of green flames and a scroll landing in his hands.

"It's a message from Princess Celestia," Twilight stated upon seeing it, "what's it say Spike?"

"Dear Twilight," Spike read as he unrolled the scroll, "it's a matter of greatest urgency that you and the others come to Canterlot at once. Please gather your friends at once. Princess Celestia..." he trailed off as the letter came to a close, "do you think this has something to do with all the earthquakes we've been experiencing?" he asked.

"I don't know Spike. But Princess Celestia says it's important so I'm sure we'll find out something. Come on, let's get everypony together," Twilight stated.

"Yo, Twi' we're already here," came Rainbow Dash's voice from behind. Turning around Twilight could see her flapping her wings and hovering off the ground, and trailing behind here were a frazzled looking Rarity who'd obviously been crying her eyes out if the puffiness was any indication, and a distraught looking Fluttershy not far behind them, "what's up, Egghead? Princess Celestia say anything in her letter?"

"Only that it was important to gather everypony and get to Canterlot immediately," Twilight replied and shook her head.

"And how are we supposed to get there? The trains haven't run since the earthquakes started due to the risk of the tunnels collapsing and burying them," Rarity pointed out.

"I know that, Rarity, I'm sure Princess Celestia knows too. And I'm sure she knows what she's doing to say we need to get there immediately," Twilight explained before turning to face Pinkie, "Pinkie Pie, what about that big balloon of yours? Could we use that to get to Canterlot?" she asked.

"Sorry Twilight the basket got broken in the last quake," Pinkie replied and shook her head. Then an idea came to her, "what about your magic? Can you teleport us all there?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not Pinkie. Canterlot is a very long way off from here and trying to teleport everypony at once to such a distance is more than I can handle," Twilight explained.

"Hmm," Spike mumbled to himself. Grabbing an ever-ready quill that Twilight insisted upon he quickly scribbled something onto the scroll they'd received and sent it up in smoke via magic flames.

"Spike what was that?" Twilight asked.

"Well Princess Celestia said to get everypony together, so I just wrote and told her we're all together and asked what we should do now. If she's got something in mind then let's see what it is," Spike explained.

Almost as if on cue the Mane Six and Spike found themselves enveloped in a bright, blinding light that forced them to shut their eyes. It was only for an instant and when the light faded enough for them to open their eyes again they were treated to the surprise of being in Princess Celestia's throne room, in Canterlot!

"Wha' happened?" Applejack asked, feeling very dazed and a bit sick at the same time.

"If I had to guess I'd say it was long-ranged teleportation. I've read about it but I've never seen it done before," Twilight explained as she looked around.

"So if we're in Canterlot Castle where exactly is Princess Celestia at?" Pinkie Pie asked if she looked around the room.

"Yeah you'd think that if this was an urgent meeting she'd be here after summoning us," Rainbow Dash commented.

"As I am dear Rainbow Dash," came Celestia's voice from behind, causing the Mane Six to jump in surprise at her entrance into the throne room, seeming to appear out of nowhere as if she were a phantom.

"Princess Celestia," Twilight breathed as they all bowed before her.

"It's wonderful to see you all again, I just wish it could've been under better circumstances," Celestia said as they rose back up.

"You said it was important that we come as soon as possible. Does this have to do with the earthquakes Ponyville has been experiencing the past few days?" Twilight asked, "has some new fault line developed underneath Ponyville and is threatening to rupture if we don't magically seal it back up again?"

"I'm afraid that it isn't quite as simple as that my dear student, a matter of that sort could easily be handled and wouldn't warrant more than just minor concern. No this matter goes much deeper than simple tremors affecting Equestria," Celestia paused and sat down on the floor in front of them. The rest followed suit before she continued, "long ago when Equestria was still young, when I was still young, things were much different than they are today. It was a dark time, it was a dangerous time. The land was filled with many threats and enemies, many hostiles that nopony should ever have to face. But one enemy in particular sticks out more prominently than the rest..."

Celestia's horn glowed brightly as an image was projected above head. What was presented in the image was something that sent shivers down the spines of everypony present. It was an entity whose appearance didn't look physically possible, like its very existence with a blaspheme against the laws of physics and nature itself. The best way any of them could describe it was a bipedal form that looked sculpted of granite and held together in a cloak of black smoke with a core of burning fire that went all the way up to where its eyes would be if it had any.

"It's name is Adunamai, it's origins a mystery to all, myself included. All that is known about it is the savagery of its existence. When Adunamai roamed free there was not one that remained untouched to the horrors it was capable of inflicting. Colts, mares and even foals, none were spared. Many suffered at its hooves, many of them far out of Adunamai's way so they were harmed even when there was no reason for them to be. Many," she paused and sighed, "...many ponies lost their lives during this time..."

"You mean that..." Pinkie interrupted, "that it actually...killed...other ponies?" she asked, gulping nervously at the prospect of an answer.

"Indeed it did, dear Pinkie, Adunamai killed a great many ponies during its time when it roamed freely. It took great delight in the suffering of others and had no qualms about killing entire families for no reason other than having something to do..." Celestia explained. She hadn't expected anypony to actually remain silent after hearing this revelation, and they hadn't, not even Twilight could keep silent after hearing about the horrors of Adunamai. She allowed them to talk amongst themselves, hearing the shock in their voices and the terror in their statements and their back and forth questions.

"Princess Celestia what does this...this...Adunamai have to do with the earthquakes affecting Equestria?" Twilight asked as she tried to stay focused on the matter at hand and not be absolutely horrified by it all.

"I'm afraid they're linked Twilight. When Adunamai was defeated, to ensure that it didn't get out again to cause more chaos and suffering it was buried deep underground, sealed under the base of this mountain where Canterlot was built. The city was built here in the hope that Adunamai would remain for all eternity, but now that seems to not be a possibility. The spell that was used to seal Adunamai in the first place is losing the magical integrity needed to keep it in place, and being aware of this Adunamai is now trying to break free from its confines and escape. The earthquakes are the result of its struggling to break free and escape into the world once again," she explained.

"So this situation is like the one with Discord all over again?" Rainbow Dash asked, "then no sweat Princess. We'll get the Elements of Harmony and put this Andu...this Andama...whatever, we'll put it back in its place again and call it a day just like last time!"

"I'm afraid that it's not quite that simple dear Rainbow Dash," Celestia replied and shook her head. The pony of loyalty had much bravery to her and it was admirable, but bravery alone wasn't enough, "Adunamai is not like Discord or Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon sought to bring disharmony to Equestria by implementing eternal night and suppressing the light of day. Discord is the embodiment of chaos and sought to implement disorder where there was harmonious structure. But Adunamai is different, Adunamai does not have a desire to end harmony, its only desire is to kill and bring suffering to others. While the Elements of Harmony are quite powerful when utilized correctly I'm afraid there's nothing they can do in this matter that would be beneficial to us..."

"Forgive me if ah'm speakin' outta turn here Princess Celestia, but there seems ta be an awful lot of villains that'a been sealed away only to escape again in the future," Applejack stated, "in Princess Luna's case it made sense, her bein' family an' all, but considerin' how dangerous this feller here is didn't he warrant stronger measures ta keep him from repeatin' the process?"

"Are you saying we should've chosen to kill Adunamai instead? To murder it and deprive it the ability to live for the rest of eternity like it did so many others?" Celestia asked. She allowed the question to sink in before continuing, "we certainly tried to kill Adunamai, we knew for certain that it was too dangerous to keep around. But despite our best efforts success just wasn't within our grasps. We tried everything we could think of to end Adunamai's reign of terror once and for all but we simply didn't have the strength to do it. In the end all we could hope to do was bury it as deep as possible and implement seal after seal after seal in an attempt to keep it buried for all of eternity. But as you've learned that attempt has not exactly panned out the way we'd hoped."

There was an uncomfortable silence among the Mane Six at hearing how their princess had actually tried to use lethal force against an enemy. To actually hear such an admission from one that was so kind and loved was...a little disturbing. This was a subject that they weren't accustomed to talking about. While death in Equestria was common it was attributed to many other factors like old age, illness of freak accidents. But outright killing, that was something else.

"So what happened anyway? What's letting this big meanie pants break loose?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Celestia hesitated to answer the question that was presented to her, a look of discomfort crossing her face as she mulled over what to say next.

"The events that lead up to now aren't important enough to trouble yourselves with. To put simply they occurred long ago and there is no way to change them and thus no need to worry about them," she replied simply and hoped that they would leave it at that. They didn't need to know what was really responsible for Adunamai's rising in today's age, "ever since we learned about the weakening of the seals Luna and I have been attempting to rekindle the magical strength that has worked so well for so long. But so far all attempts have failed and I fear we may be too late."

"I beg your pardon if I'm speaking out of turn, Princess Celestia," Rarity said as she stepped forward, "far be it from me to try and tell you how to manage your own affairs, after all I'm just a fashionista, I don't have your extensive knowledge of Equestrian history or anything like that. But isn't it possible the matter is being approached from the wrong direction?" she asked, "perhaps instead of looking for ways to banish this Adunamai or...kill...him, perhaps we should instead be looking for ways to help him? Maybe expose him to kindness and love? Large quantities of love along the lines of what Princess Cadance is capable of generating?"

Celestia hadn't been expecting such a proposal to be presented. But then again considering Rarity represented the element of generosity she really shouldn't have been surprised at the young pony's idea of trying to help somepony else out.

"I commend you for your thoughtfulness on the matter Rarity, but I'm afraid it's not that easy. Princess Cadance and her husband Shining Armor are attending to royal duties and I haven't been able to contact them for some time now. Even if they weren't away Cadance's power over love doesn't simply create love where none existed, rather it simply rekindles somepony's love that has long since been forgotten. And I truly doubt that with all the evil Adunamai has so readily engaged in, that there is any love to be had in its dark heart," she replied. She did have to admit that it was certainly an option she hadn't considered before, and in recent time she had considered much to try and abate this matter.

"So lemme see if I've got this straight," Rainbow Dash spoke up, louder than the other ponies present, "there's this massive evil force buried under Canterlot that's trying to break free and shaking up Equestria in the process. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the two strongest and most magical ponies in the whole world couldn't succeed in killing it, the seals containing it are broken and can't be put back in place, and the Elements of Harmony won't do diddly against it. So just what the BUCK are we supposed to be able to pull off!?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight screeched, mortified at her friend's brashness and her crude language being leveled at Princess Celestia of all ponies, "you can't talk to Princess Celestia like that! Don't you realize she could banish you for such a lack of manners!?"

"No Twilight it's quite alright, Rainbow Dash asks a valid question," Celestia reassured her student, along with making a mental note to ask her about where she got some of her ideas, but that could wait for another time, "we are indeed in a dire spot unlike anything that has been seen before in recent history. However all hope is not yet lost, my little ponies, there's still a hoof to be played in the matter," she explained as her horn began to glow again and display a different image, like a flyover of the land, "in the distant north, far beyond the known boundaries of the Everfree Forest there is an artifact of immense power that lays buried beneath an ancient temple," she said as the image changed from the overview of the land to ancient ruins.

"What is this artifact of immense power anyway?" Twilight asked.

"It is a remnant leftover from the last Great Alicorn War," came a booming voice from above them. Everypony jumped in surprise and looked up, to be greeted by the sight of Princess Luna descending to the ground and taking her position to the left of her older sister, "greetings my friends. So nice to see you all once again," she said as she made eye contact with the Mane Six. Almost immediately they all bowed before her, before she gestured for them to rise and face her directly.

"Greetings little sister. Have the preparations been going according to plan?" Celestia asked as she turned to face her sister.

"Indeed dear sister. To the best of my duties I have seen to everything as you have asked, although it has taken longer than anticipated," Luna replied, "and what of you? Have you been informing our friends of the recent developments?"

"I've been attempting to," Celestia replied as she turned to face the Mane Six again, "however there are many questions to be asked by their curious minds. And while I believe they deserve to know the answers I fear there may not be enough time to answer them all. Perhaps you'd have better luck explaining it?"

"I shall try," Luna responded and stepped forward to address them. She took over displaying the images that were relevant to the discussion, "as explained the artifact Celestia refers to is a remnant leftover from the last Great Alicorn War that Equestia faced long ago," she explained and paused, the look on her face stern and warning them that now was not the time for interrupting. They seemed to understand and remained silent, "the power contained within is immense by nature, so immense it was feared that it may one day fall into the wrong hands. It would have been destroyed long ago if not for the possibility that they day may rise when it may be needed again due to the severity of the situation, such as today. Instead it was sealed away where nopony would be likely to find it even if they were to spend a lifetime searching for it. Considering the sheer strength of Adunamai this remnant may be the only thing in existence that may be capable of actually killing it once and truly bringing an end to its reign of terror once and for all," she concluded, "you may speak now."

"...So why wasn't this remnant thing used the first time around if it was so powerful? Surely the situation warranted it, right?" Rainbow Dash asked, now very curious about the turn of events.

"A valid question Rainbow Dash," Celestia spoke as she took over. Again she presented the image showing the land between Canterlot and the ancient ruins, "the remnant was sealed in a very remote location, far away from any hospitable area where life might flourish. Even with teleportation the journey would take many days to complete. During the time Adunamai was free the first time there was much suffering to be had; far too much for us to simply take off and retrieve it as far too many would be killed during our absence. Because of this we weren't able to retrieve it and instead had to settle for sealing Adunamai away as we did. But now with the situation as it is we have little choice but to make the long journey and retrieve the remnant," she explained.

"If ya'll don't mind my askin' how exactly do we all fit into this?" Applejack spoke up, "Princess Celestia, you and Princess Luna are might powerful an' all an' prob'ly the best fliers in Equestria. Wouldn't you two be able ta go an' get this remnant thing and bring it back better than we could?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple dear Applejack. With our powers combined Luna and I could indeed travel the distance at great speed, but such won't be a possibility at this time. The spell as it is, is currently very weak and may only remain for a few more days at most. In order to protect the citizenry of Canterlot and the rest of Equestria it is necessary that I remain here. Luna will escort you on this journey, both to retrieve the remnant from its resting place, and to protect you should I fail. As the bearers of the Elements of Harmony it is a top priority that you remain safe from harm. Even if the Elements of Harmony will not stop Adunamai you must stay safe for the sake of the future, and Luna is best qualified to fill that role," Celestia explained.

There was silence after her words, but not for long. Almost immediately everypony present burst out loud at the idea of it all. She was really touched at their thoughtfulness for her safety and well being. But touched or not it didn't change the facts of the matter and what she needed to do. As the princess of the sun it was her royal duty to put the well being of her subjects above her own, even if it meant that it would cost her life to do so.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight shouted, shaking the princess from her train of thought, "this is way too dangerous, please there has to be another way. Lemme stay and help you, I'm sure I can help find a way to strengthen the seal and buy us more time," she pleaded, which turned into stammering the longer she was allowed to continue talking uninterrupted. The desperation in her voice was quickly rising, and once the sight of tears threatening to spill made their appearance known Celestia knew it was time to stop her, to calm her down to a more reasonable level. Gently she placed a hoof on her shoulder to silence her.

"Dear Twilight, I understand how upset you are by all of this. But please try and understand that this is the only way. If Adunamai escapes it will be dangerous here and I can't allow you to be put in harm's way. It will require all of my effort to protect everypony present for as long as I can, and there is no guarantee that I'll succeed. This plan is all for the best, I assure you," she said in a soothing voice.

"But Princess I...I..." she choked out.

"I know. I feel the same way, about all of you. And that is why I can enter into this decision without any regrets," she said as she lowered her head, rubbing her horn alongside Twilight's smaller horn, "fear not. Whatever happens rest assured, I'll always be with you and looking out for you. Nothing can ever change that," she continued as her horn gave a faint glow. She waited for Twilight to calm down more before raising her head back up to face everypony present, "have courage, my little ponies, for this is certainly not the end, nothing is set in stone yet-"

"Except for that big meanie pants buried under the Canterlot mountain!" Pinkie interrupted, causing a small giggle from Celestia.

"-nothing has yet been determined. There is still hope to be had. But we must act quickly in order to achieve that hope. Now the journey will be long and hard. All of you will be returned to Ponyville in order to acquire whatever supplies you may need. After that Luna will escort you to the location of the remnant," she informed them.

"Well then let's quit standing around already, we gotta hoof it!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she hovered overhead to grab everyone's attention, "let's get going and grab this remnant thing and kick Adamana's flank! Who's with me!?"

"Adunamai," Twilight corrected without even thinking about it.

"Whatever let's just go already!"

Celestia and Luna smiled at Rainbow Dash's attempt to boost the group's morale and pick up their spirits. However said spirits were suddenly disrupted by a violent shaking of the ground, sending everypony sprawling to the floor from the intensity. This quake was already proving to be much bigger and much more violent than all of the previous quakes, enough to break pieces off the castle walls and send them crashing down all around them.

"What's going on?" Spike practically yelled to be heard over the commotion, hiding behind Twilight who was projecting a forcefield over the group as wreckage crashed in every direction.

"I fear that we have wasted too much time that could have been spent on the journey," Luna commented.

As if on cue the ground in the castle began to crack and split before violently flying apart, sending shrapnel in every direction, smashing into the walls and Twilight's forcefield, nearly forcing her to drop it from the sheer strain put on her. From the crater that remained came a deep rumbling noise before an eruption of a black inky substance flying forth and making contact with the ceiling of the throne room, piling up in an ever increasing mass that defied the basic laws of physics and gravity themselves.

"We're too late," Celestia noted in a more dire tone that before, as she watched as the black mass pooled up on the ceiling before it began twitching and descending to a central spot on the floor. All she could do was watch as it began to take the shape of the entity in the images she showed them earlier. Adunamai was free and unrestrained, and the Mane Six were still present to watch it taking shape, "Luna, get the girls out of here now!" she ordered.

Without anything more than a nod Luna began concentrating and her horn before glowing with a pale blue light, a light that quickly enveloped the others. In the blink of an eye and with a whiff of smoke they were gone, leaving Celestia alone with Adunamai...

"I was sincerely hoping that we would never see each other again Adunamai. But the fact that we are still gives me hope for the future of this land," Celestia stated. Whether Adunamai was currently capable of talking or not was a mystery as it just stood there, staring at her with its fiery eyes and barely moving its misshapen form. Celestia just snorted and continued, "I remember how you were thousands of years ago, and I swear on my life that as ruler of Equestria I won't allow any harm to come to my subjects. If you have a problem with that then you'll just have to go through me."

It seemed that Adunamai was listening the whole time, because as soon as Celestia was finished with her, in the blink of an eye it was at her side, drawing back its fist and aiming to crush her. However she was far too quick and easily feinted to her left, avoiding the stone-crushing impact that was delivered to where she stood just a moment ago. It was either serious or simply warming up.

"Not good enough," Celetia replied and threw open her wings, the soft white feathers underneath glowing brightly from her element the sun. With a mighty flap sparks began to fly from her wings in Adunamai's direction, exploding on contact with its body in a brilliant display that most certainly caused it pain, forcing it back. Another flap brought another wave of exploding sparks, forcing guttural noises from Adunamai's hidden maw, an obvious sign of pain. With this confirmation Celestia began flapping harder and faster, unleashing a great shower of sparks in its direction, forcing it back against the wall of the throne room and leaving it pinned.

"I couldn't stop you thousands of years ago and I will always regret that. But now the situation is different and will not be repeated," Celestia stated as her flapping came to a close, her wings tucking back underneath as her horn glowed brightly, "Solar Beam!" she hollered as a blindingly bright stream of light erupted from her horn, slamming into Adunamai's trunk with enough force to slam it back against the wall and keep it pinned there. Having him pinned she pressed onward, increasing the intensity to the point it was starting to cause smoke to rise as a result of the intense heat. She had him in the position a naughty foal with a magnifying glass would have an ant, and she intended to keep him there.

Unfortunately the best laid plans of mice and colts didn't always pan out. Despite Celestia's best efforts to maintain the solar beam attack it was taking its toll on her. The intensity of the beam required a great deal of focus, concentration and a significant portion of her magical power. It was only a matter of minutes before the exertion proved too much to keep up and the beam petered out, leaving her on her knees and Adunamai free, looking little more than scorched after all that.

"It would seem I underestimated you," Celestia commented. Adunamai maintained its silence and slowly made its way towards her, "but you have also underestimated me!" she shouted and deployed her wings, driving her forward like a projectile, her horn aimed directly for its chest.

Adunamai was quick, catching Celestia's horn in its hand and keeping it outstretched and away. However quick wasn't the same as strong and Celestia's mighty wings were proving capable of generating a great deal of force, causing Adunamai's outstretched arm to tremble and slowly be pushed back, the tip of the horn getting closer to its chest with each flap. And as it got closer it began to glow again, as did the rest of Celestia's body.

"I will see you in Tartaurus even if I must escort you there myself!" she warned as her horn inched its way towards Adunamai's darkened heart.

* * *

Trying to organize a long trek across the wilderness was never easy; especially when you only have five minutes for an advanced notice and the need to get everypony organized in that time. That was the lesson Luna was learning right now.

Per her sister's instructions she'd transported everypony back to Ponyville and gave them instructions to gather the essentials for a long journey through the wilderness and to do so as quickly as possible. Perhaps she was expecting too much from them, believing that they would know enough to gather necessities like food and water rather than clothing and party supplies. More than once it was necessary to order them back to their homes to do a more thorough job based around survival rather than creature comforts; Pinkie Pie and Rarity had been the biggest offenders on that matter, but at least they seemed to learn quickly after a brief lecture on the foolishness of their decisions. At least Twilight's decision to bring along a book was based on the foresight of possibly needing to use their surroundings for formulating medicines should they be needed.

"If everypony is finally ready we will begin our journey now," Luna announced as the Mane Six came back to the center of Ponyville. It was imperative that they left as soon as possible, the longer they spent here the more likely it was that Adunamai would find them all.

However before they could leave they were all caught by surprise by a sudden blinding light and the low rumble of an explosion occurring in the distance, interrupting their train of thought. Looking in the direction of the light they were shocked to see smoke coming from Canterlot castle.

"Jus' wha' the buck happened?" Applejack asked.

Using her magic Twilight withdrew a set of binoculars from her saddlebags and looked at the castle, but gasped and dropped them in surprise at what she saw, unable to believe her own eyes.

"T-the throne room, it's been obliterated," she explained in disbelief, "P-Princess Luna, w-w-what happened?"

"It would seem apparent that Celestia felt the need to use her Supernova technique against Adunamai. A most powerful and quite destructive technique," Luna explained neutrally as she looked towards the distance.

"But Princess Celestia is alright isn't she? She wouldn't use something that could harm her, right?" Twilight asked, both hopefully and desperately. Luna said nothing, merely closing her eyes and bowing her head.

"We must go now. The journey ahead of us is quite long. We do not have time to stand about and talk amongst ourselves," Luna replied simply.

"Oh no," Twilight breathed, becoming tuned out to the world around her. Her worst fears were more or less being confirmed by Luna's silence on the matter. Princess Celestia was...she couldn't even bring herself to voice the thought, it was far too horrible. Without warning she turned and sped off at full gallop in the direction of Canterlot.

"Woah there Twi'," Rainbow Dash said as she swooped to intercept, wrapping her forelegs around her friend's neck to keep her from getting anywhere.

"Let me go Rainbow Dash, let me go! I have to get to Canterlot!" she demanded as she struggled against the cyan pegasus to break free.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" Luna's voice boomed, shaking them all out of their individual thoughts. Luna's magic enveloped Twilight's smaller frame and lifted her off the ground, bringing her over for a face to face moment, "we do not have time to engage in this selfishness! My sister chose to sacrifice herself so that we may succeed in our mission to save all of Equestria! If you loved her at all then you will colt up and do as she wished rather than pursuing foolish ideals that you may somehow be able to help her on your own! If Adunamai was not stopped by her sacrifice then it is all the more imperative that we get moving immediately," she bellowed in a manner far more harsh than their original meeting on Nightmare Night, shaking the small unicorn quite forcefully in an attempt to break her out of whatever thought process she had engaged in,"are you able to do that, for my sister's sake?" she asked, her voice still firm but also much softer than previously.

"...Y-yes Princess Luna, I'm sorry," Twilight replied through sniffles of sadness. The logical part of her mind knew that this was the truth, but she had a hard time reconciling that with how she felt right now.

"Very well," Luna replied and set Twilight back on the ground, "now by friends we must leave, stand close," she instructed, drawing them all in close to her as her horn began to glow again as she prepared for another teleportation, "into the Everfree Forest we progress!"

* * *

Princess Celestia's music, Sonne by Rammstein


	2. Dark isn't always evil

**Chapter 2: Dark isn't always evil**

"Maybe it's something like a giant cannon," Rainbow Dash mused as they all sat by the fire, "something that uses emeralds for focusing lenses, and giant turbines that spin and glow when they're charged with pure magic. And when it fires I bet it could wipe out an entire mountain range in a single shot!"

The journey north had gotten off to a rocky start, not at all like originally planned. They had been forced to move out in haste, entirely unprepared and they were all very aware of that fact. However they were also aware of the fact that they couldn't let something like that stop them from actually carrying this mission out, there was way too much on the line to simply give up now.

Following Luna the Mane Six and Spike had trekked deep into the EverFree Forest on their journey to the ruins that lay in the north. Travel had been quick thanks to Luna knowing all about long-ranged teleportation, but unfortunately they had learned quickly that Luna's magic was not infinite. To cover such a long distance with seven ponies and a dragon all at once required a significant amount of focus and power to pull off, and once completed there needed to be a rest and recharge period so they could proceed with the next jump. But not being able to simply wait for that to happen they were forced to walk from there, to make up for the downtime they'd be facing.

And so they walked, deeper and deeper into the Everfree Forest, surrounded by strange noises and even stranger sights that just seemed to get all the more terrifying at Luna carried out her royal duties of lowering the sun and raising the moon. But as long as Luna was present they knew they were safe from the surrounding forest and what it held.

Finally the group had reached the point where they simply couldn't walk anymore and needed to set up camp and rest to gather own strength. Luna had graciously provided them with a roaring fire before facing due south and leaving the Mane Six to their own devices while she kept watch.

Right now Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Flutteryshy and Pinkie Pie were sitting around the fire engaging in small talk and discussing the plan for the quest. However with Rainbow Dash's involvement talk eventually turned to things that were significantly more action-y in nature and she began musing on just what the artifact might be. In her mind it had to be a really cool weapon, like something seen in the movies and amounted to a doomsday device.

"Rainbow Dash, darling, I do believe you've become far too engrossed in those _Daring Do_ novels," Rarity replied, having a hard time wrapping her mind around the very concept. Maybe those who were native to Cloudsdale had a better understanding of machinery than her as maintenance on her sewing machine was about as technical as it got.

"Well it's gotta be something pretty stupendous if it can defeat this Adimana-"

"Adunamai."

"-whatever. But still it's gotta be pretty kicking right?" Rainbow Dash reasoned.

"If that's the case sugarcube then how exactly are we supposed to retrieve it and bring it back to Ponyville? Something like that's gotta be a might big and heavy," Applejack pointed out.

"Well I...haven't exactly figured that part out yet..." Rainbow Dash replied and rubbed at the back of her head with her foreleg.

"Not to interrupt but shouldn't we be thinking on what to do about Twilight?" Spike spoke up and gestured over to the side where their companion lay away from the group, "we can't just leave her by herself to be sad."

The others glanced over to where Twilight currently rested, a good distance away from them, her shoulder shaking as her body was racked with quiet sobs over the loss of her mentor Celestia. Luna had managed to force her to pull her act together by yelling at her back in Ponyville, but she still hadn't been at the top of her game and still wasn't even now. All she'd said was that she wanted to be left alone for the time being and didn't want to talk.

"I tried talking with her earlier but she said she just wanted to be left alone. There really wasn't much more that I could do other than respect her wishes," Fluttershy said softly.

"Even the prospect of one of my Patented Pinkie Pie Parties didn't cheer her up any," Pinkie stated in a defeated manner. She wasn't accustomed to something like that happening.

"Maybe she just needs time to herself. None o' us've gone through a rough spot anything like she's goin' through right now," Applejack reasoned, "let's face it, none of us has lost somepony like she did. We're outta our league here."

There was a shared nod among the group at this point, as none of them really knew what to do. Trying to help might wind up making things worse. But that still didn't make it any easier for them as they watched Twilight's quivering form.

So...Rarity," Spike spoke up, feeling the need to say something, "were you serious about what you said earlier? About Princess Cadance?"

"Oh absolutely Spike. Certainly there must be a nonviolent option available if we simply look for it. We were certainly able to defeat Nightmare Moon and Discord without having to resort to...killing them," she said, acting as if the word left a foul taste in her mouth, "I'm a lover rather than a fighter. And considering Princess Cadance's powers during the wedding incident it just seemed like a natural solution," she explained.

"Yeah...speaking of that, I've...kinda got a crazy idea..." Rainbow Dash spoke up.

* * *

A dozen or so yards away from the Mane Six Luna sat by herself facing the south, with her eyes closed, head turned toward the sky and her horn glowing. They may have been resting while she replenished her magic, but there were sill many things that had to be taken care of right now. Celestia's sacrifice to buy them time to escape would not go to waste if she had any say in the matter.

However her focus was shifted when she felt the presence of Twilight stepping closer to her.

"Princess Luna?" she practically croaked. Luna sighed and opened her eyes, noting the unicorn's puffy and tear stained features. She had indeed been crying a great deal.

"What is it, Twilight Sparkle?" she asked.

"Is Princess Celestia really dead?"

"...I do not know," Luna replied simply and hung her head, "Celestia's Supernova is not something that would be used if the situation was not dire. But that does not tell me her fate," she said as she closed her eyes again, "however I do not have the luxury of mourning for my sister's possible passing. I have been entrusted by her with protecting everypony present and I must give that my full attention. There are still many things that I must tend to in addition to my duties do you and your friends."

"I'm sorry," Twilight apologized.

"There is no need to be sorry. It is natural to feel grief over the loss of a loved one. However the extent to which we allow ourselves to be consumed by that grief is something that must be controlled. We cannot afford to drown in an ocean of our own misery and become unable to function," she explained, receiving a nod of understanding in response.

"Princess Luna?" Twilight asked after a beat, "why did Princess Celestia choose to bury Adunamai under the mountain to Canterlot? If it's so dangerous why didn't she do something like banish it to the moon where it couldn't hurt anypony even if it did get loose? Or what about...what about hurling it into the sun? Wouldn't the sun have been enough to...to stop it?"

"I do not claim to know the reasons for which my sister made the decisions she did. Her reasons were her own and I can only assume she knew what she was doing at the time," Luna replied, and then paused, "I cannot speak with regard to hurling Adunamai into the sun. As to the moon however, I can only venture a guess that it is related to the seals that kept it contained for so long. Something buried in close proximity is far easier to keep tabs on rather than something that is disposed of hundreds of miles away."

"Are you bucked in the head or somethin'!" Applejack's voice bellowed from behind, ceasing any further discussion between the two magically talented ponies. Looking back in the direction of the fire there was definitely some sort of argument going on.

"It never ends," Luna sighed as she stood up and walked over to the group with Twilight following close behind, "what is the meaning of this?"

"It's nothing princess, just a difference of opinion that's all," Rainbow Dash stated.

"Rainbow Dash wants to return to Canterlot and release Discord," Pinkie Pie stated.

"What? Is this true Rainbow Dash?" Luna asked.

"It's not like it sounds Princess Luna, honest. Well alright maybe it is but hear me out. When Discord got free the last time he turned us all into things we weren't. Applejack, you were the biggest liar in all of Ponyville. Fluttershy got turned mean. _Fluttershy_ of all ponies! If Discord could do that then surely he could turn Adamaba-"

"Adunamai."

"-whatever. He could make him as weak and helpless as a newborn foal without even breaking a sweat, right?" Rainbow Dash theorized.

"That there is jus' plain buckin' crazy RD. Why would Discord help us even if we were ta let'im outta his stone prison? And even if he did help us we'd have to deal with him all over again, an' he was hard enough the first time," Applejack countered.

"Yeah but we're stronger this time around! We're more organized, we wouldn't become fractured and we'd have the Elements of Harmony. After we get Discord to help us we just put him away again and save Equestria all over again!" Rainbow Dash defended.

"Enough!" Luna interrupted to stop any further arguments. What had she gotten herself into? Releasing Discord? Seriously? "I admire your thinking Rainbow Dash. To use one's enemy against another enemy to achieve a desired outcome is indeed a valid tactic and shows skill in strategical thinking. However anything that is related to Discord is never as simple as it would seem. Even if we could make it back to Canterlot and enable the release Discord once again there is no guarantee that he would help us for any reason. Even if he did bring chaos to Adunamai and the results become desirable to us we would still have to deal with the issue of attempting to seal Discord back up again. Once Discord is back in stone his influence in the world comes to an end, meaning we would be right back in the same position we were in to begin with," she explained.

"Meaning that dreadful Adunamai would be right back to its evil and murderous self in no time and we'd be that much further away from the ruins we've been trying to hard to reach," Rarity stated, receiving a nod from Luna for understanding the situation.

"So...even Discord can't beat this thing?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"That is accurate Rainbow Dash. To use one enemy against another in this case would simply trade one evil for another, with neither being a desirable outcome. Discord did not engage in the wholesale murder of innocent ponies, but his chaotic influence in the world would still eventually lead to Equestria's downfall," Luna explained. Rainbow Dash looked dejected and simply sat back down without another word.

Twilight said nothing during the whole event, simply remaining silent behind Princess Luna and observing it all. When it was all said and done she walked back with Luna to where she had been keeping guard, sitting down beside her.

"Unleashing Discord..." Luna mused.

"I'm sorry, Princess Luna, when I first came to Ponyville I said everypony there was crazy. I had no idea that Rainbow Dash may qualify as actually _being_ crazy," Twilight apologized, "setting Discord free, that's a bad as suggesting you return to being Nightmare Moon."

Luna coughed at hearing the last part of Twilight's statement, caught off guard by her words. However she said nothing. But in hindsight perhaps she should have as the silence seemed to be causing Twilight concern.

"I mean that's just a crazy idea with no basis in reality," she paused, "right?" she looked to Luna, feeling a sudden chill running up her spine at the continuing silence, "...Princess Luna? It's just a crazy idea not worth trying...right?"

"You are much wiser than even you yourself realize," Luna replied simply before unfolding one of her wings, bringing the tip to her lips in a hushing sound. She glanced over her shoulder at the rest of the Mane Six who were still sitting by the fire, engrossed in their own matters. Looking back at Twilight her horn glowed, lifting her chestplate and bringing out a piece of jewelry attached to a chain.

"What is it exactly?" Twilight asked as she looked closer, trying to make out the details in the dark, and wishing that she hadn't as soon as she had, "isn't that...isn't that the symbol of Nightmare Moon?" she asked, her voice a forced whisper to try and contain her fear.

"It is the symbol that has come to be associated with Nightmare Moon," Luna replied in an equal whisper, "it was my jealousy that may have fueled my transformation to Nightmare Moon, but it is this amulet and the magic attached that made it a possibility."

"It's cracked," Twilight stated, noting the lengthwise crack that ran down the front of it.

"Indeed. It was damaged when the Elements of Harmony were used to successfully defeat Nightmare Moon and set me free. Since that time Celestia has been holding onto it as a reminder of what we went through," she explained, "once we learned that the seals keeping Adunamai in check were weakening and couldn't be reestablished we began to consider all our available options for what we would do should the need arise..."

"You mean...you're actually thinking about turning into Nightmare Moon again?" Twilight asked, her voice weak as she tried to comprehend this.

"Not just myself but Celestia as well. Compared to her my powers rate me second at best. As Nightmare Moon my powers eclipsed even hers and it was only through the Elements of Harmony that Nightmare Moon was defeated. Knowing this she believed that this amulet may be needed in the near future should worse come to worse," she explained, "however considering it's damaged status and my own lack of jealousy the results are a mystery to myself. There is no way to tell what may happen and Celestia advised it be used only if absolutely necessary," she said as it was returned to its resting place.

"This sounds really dangerous. I mean really, _really_ dangerous, like when Spike joined in the last dragon migration," Twilight stated.

"I am not saying that there is not significant risk involved with the plan. There is no guarantee that attempting to become Nightmare Moon once more won't cost me my life in the process. But currently we are in a dangerous time and we must be willing to consider all available options if we are to succeed. Nightmare Moon's amulet is only one of the contingencies Celestia and I settled upon."

"What're the others?" Twilight asked, now more curious than scared.

"It is not necessary to be made aware of them right now," Luna said as she stood up and stretched her wings out before tucking them back inward and gave one last glance skyward, "my magic has sufficiently recharged to allow for the next teleportation to occur. I would suggest we go now to cover as much distance as soon as possible."

They stood and walked back to the fire again to make the announcement that they could now begin traveling again. However they never managed to even get a word in edgewise before the sound of a great and terrible roar coming from the south shook them with terror.

"Wha' the buck was that!?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It would appear Adunamai has found us..." Luna said simply.

That was the last thing anypony wanted to hear. Adunamai was still alive? After what Princess Celestia had done? How could anything survive an explosion like that?

"What? How? How'd he know where we were going? How'd he catch up with us so fast?" Rainbow Dash asked again.

"I do not know nor do I have the necessary time to theorize an answer. Adunamai is still some distance away but is aware of our location and will soon reach us. We need to leave now."

"It's no good, it won't work," Twilight stated, "the maximum distance covered by the last jump, subtract time necessary to replenish your magic in preparation for the next jump, approximate travel during the downtime, factor in the amount of time it took Adunamai to get as far as he has," she mumbled as complex calculations began appearing over her head as her horn glowed, "it won't work. At this rate everything suggests Adunamai will catch up with and overtake us within the next two jumps, maybe three if we really try and push it and I add my magic to work as a power boost, but the results will be the same, it'll just be a matter of how tired we are when we're found."

"So you mean...we're doomed?" Rainbow Dash asked in a nervous tone. She swallowed and did her best to push her own fear off to the side, she couldn't afford to be afraid, not now and not ever, "well if we're gonna be killed I'm not going down without one bucking _hay_ of a good fight. He's going to learn the hard way what this Iron Pony is made of!" she stated in a very boisterous manner and hovered off the ground, kicking at the air with her hind legs to emphasize the point that she wasn't scared and quite willing to fight the situation out.

"Such is not the case in this matter," Luna stated, "Twilight's calculations appear to be quite correct, however that does not mean we are without options. You seven will proceed on ahead with the next teleportation as scheduled. I will remain behind to prevent Adunamai's advance," she declared.

"WHAT!?" was the collective response of everyony present after hearing the plan.

"That's crazy!"

"It's suicide!"

"You can't leave us now we need you!"

"We can't just leave you behind like that!"

"Your loyalty is quite touching, but it is a necessary decision to be made. Adunamai's presence means that Celestia's gamble failed and I am the only thing standing between it and you right now. The fact that it has chosen to pursue us rather than stay in Canterlot and senselessly murder the citizenry there would suggest that it has somehow become aware of our plan and is working to preserve its own existence at all cost, meaning it won't stop pursuing until everypony is dead. For that reason I must be the one to stay and fight, to buy you the necessary time to escape," Luna explained as calmly as she could muster. Another roar in the distant south, but much closer than before. Adunamai was starting to close in on them. "This is not a decision that I enter into lightly. But just as my sister I am Canterlot royalty and it is my duty to put my life on the line for the sake of my loyal subjects."

"But Princess Luna, you'll die...just like Princess Celestia," Twilight reasoned as new tears threatened to spill all over again.

"Surely there must be an alternative available, no?" Rarity asked.

"Do not concern yourself for my well being, dear Twilight Sparkle. Just as with my sister I will always be with you and your friends," Luna stated and extended her wing to stroke the unicorn's mane in a comforting gesture, "there are still a number of cards to be played before my end is certain. I shall be alright."

Another roar, even closer than last time. Everypony was shivering at this point and, as Luna noticed, one was in the midst of having an accident out of the sheer amount of terror in the air.

"There is no more time for talk, it is imperative that you go now," Luna stated as her horn began to glow, as did the Mane Six and Spike, "once you are teleported continue heading northward. Eventually you should be able to reach the ruins."

"Be careful Princess!" Spike managed to yell out before they were all gone in a flash, far away from the current zone of harm that she was in. Now it was just her and Adunamai.

"It would seem I have no option but to fight. And with my magic weakened it would seem I have truly no choice in the matter now," Luna said to herself. Her horn began to glow again and her chestplate was raised, allowing the amulet to be presented again, "it would seem that you are needed, Nightmare Moon..."

"Is that so?" came a foreign voice, interrupted by an amused chuckle. Turning in the direction of the voice Luna saw the ethereal form of Nightmare Moon standing before her, far taller than herself and looking rougher than she remembered, her armor cracked and patches of her coat looking notably bare, possibly as a result of the Elements of Harmony, "so you've come back to me again Little Luna. What makes you think you are worthy of bearing the mantle of Nightmare Moon once more? What gives you that right?"

"It is out of necessity that I seek you again foul spirit, not petty selfishness," Luna snorted. The Nightmare Moon apparition just seemed to grow more amused, "the situation is quite dire, otherwise you would not be here now."

"Oh I know, I know," Nightmare Moon cooed in a blatant effort to anger Luna, "but why should I feel motivated to help you? You didn't appreciate my powers the last time you had them, and now you come trotting back to ask for them since it's convenient for you?"

Another roar, far closer than Luna was comfortable with. She could feel Adunami's present approaching now, and she could hear the thundering footsteps of its slow pace moving in her direction. She shook her head before turning back to the apparition before her.

"There is no choice in the matter at this time. The longer you wait the closer it becomes to being too late. I am not asking for myself but rather for all of Equestria!" she stated. Nightmare Moon looked completely unfazed. Angry but trying to suppress her rage she grit her teeth to talk, "I am asking you to _please_ lend me your powers once again, I am too weak to resolve the matter otherwise..."

"Oh that's so nice to hear. It just absolutely brings a sense of warmth to my dark heart," Nightmare Moon remarked, "very well Little Luna. I shall allow you to don my mantle once more. But be warned, you will regret your decision."

"I do already," Luna said simply and closed her eyes, bracing for what was to come.

With an amused snort the apparition of Nightmare Moon reared up on its hind legs and whinnied before jumping into Luna's physical form. Immediately Luna grimaced and began to convulse in pain, feeling the transformation taking effect. She briefly wondered if Nightmare Moon was making this difficult and painful on purpose, but all conscious thought came to a grinding halt as she collapsed to the ground in excruciating pain, like billions of jagged pieces of glass being violently driven into her body, ripping and tearing through her muscles and tendons. All she could see was pure bright whiteness, before the darkness descended.

She could've passed out from the seeming hours worth of misery she had experienced, she couldn't tell for certain. She was only mildly aware of the fact that she was standing up again on all four feet. As her senses came back she was aware of a foreign and yet disturbingly familiar washing over her. Nightmare Moon was indeed back.

"Oh it feels so good to stretch my wings again," Nightmare Moon commented, earning a frown from her host Luna.

_"This is not a social outing for you to engage in. Stay sharp and alert for Adunamai is-"_ she was in the process of saying, before a loud crack was heard and a tree went toppling, revealing Adunamai's form standing before them, _"-right there..."_

"Ah so we finally get to meet the infamous Adunamai. This should prove most entertaining, see which one of us is more evil. Although considering your current state, weakened by your loss of jealous and your lovey dovey friendship, this might not be quite so entertaining to watch."

_"I would like to think my friendships have made me stronger,"_ Luna retorted and left it at that. Adunamai was beginning to advance and they needed to act, _"let us begin_...partner..."

Adunamai's approach was slow and menacing, almost deliberate in nature, his mammoth form -easily as tall as Celestia herself- was lumbering forward in a malicious way. Nightmare Moon's approach however was far quicker. A bolt of lightning flew from her horn and struck Adunamai square in the chest, causing it to falter for a moment, before she flew forward and delivered a full forced, but hind legged kick right square in the chest that would make Applejack green with envy, forcing it to stagger back from the brunt force of the impact.

That however was just the beginning of the attack, Nightmare Moon was quick to follow up with a style that could only be described as a bare-hooved beatdown, kicks of all sort being deployed against Adunamai at every conceivable bodily location, each impact strong enough to easily crack stone, each impact forcing a reaction from Adunamai's stoic form. All in all it was far more savage and violent than what Celestia had attempted.

By now Adunamai was making attempts to retaliate, but they were slow in nature compared to Nightmare Moon's agility and easy enough to counterattack.

"This isn't a very effective manner of attempting to kill an opponent. It isn't even conductive of proper torture," Nightmare Moon noted as a flying kick was delivered right to Adunamai's face, sending it flying back a half dozen or so yards before crashing to the ground.

_"I am not attempting to kill Adunamai, I am simply keeping him occupied and distracted. The longer he must put up with us the longer it gives the others time to escape to a greater distance from here. If I can maintain it long enough they will be able to retrieve the artifact and achieve victory,"_ Luna explained as Nightmare Moon headbutted the rising Adunamai, knocking it off kilter again.

"Well then let's make it a little more entertaining shall we?" Nightmare Moon suggested with a sadistic grin.

Lowering her head she unleashed a blast of magic, resulting in a long silver chain forming around Adunamai's neck. Without a word she flew by, grasping the loose end in her mouth and in the process dragging their opponent along the ground, before taking off up into the air with Adunamai in tow. At first it began as a simple matter of dragging Adunamai along the ground in the opposite direction to provide distance, but that soon changed. Nightmare Moon's speech was muffled but Luna could understand her meaning. Once sufficient altitude had been reached Nightmare Moon began to spin about in midair, gaining greater velocity with each successful rotation until they were becoming nothing more than a blur. At the peak of the rotation the chain was released and Adunamai was sent hurtling into the atmosphere at explosive velocities.

"Peekaboo," Nightmare Moon stated as she appeared above Adunamai at the point his velocity began to slow, before delivering a full forced kick right to the face with both hind legs and sending him hurtling back towards the ground. She was equally as quick at getting below and kicking upward in the same manner, sending it flying up and off at a different trajectory, before following through in a similar pattern.

To Nightmare Moon and Luna they were moving at a standard speed, but to a casual observer they were operating at speeds the naked eye wouldn't be able to track. Adunamai was being bounced and kicked about in every different direction like a game of pinball, the sound of each impact not even doing justice at suggesting just how much force was being put into each kick. And all the while Nightmare Moon was just smiling away with glee.

_"You are enjoying this far too much,"_ Luna commented dryly, receiving no response back. It seemed Nightmare Moon was too distracted by her fun to take notice of the burning in her flanks and wings from all the high speed action.

Despite the impressiveness of the midair battle, and the fact that it was indeed achieving the desired results of keeping Adunamai was escaping, Nightmare moon failed to follow through after delivering a particularly devastating kick to the fact that sent it hurtling toward the ground, slamming in with enough force to deform the ground in the shape of its body.

_"What are you doing!?"_ Luna shouted.

Nightmare Moon was silent as she entered a swooping nosedive as she hurled herself to the ground, only correcting herself at the last possible moment to plant both rear hooves directly into Adunamai's face with a sickening thud.

"Just having a little fun. Lighten up Little Luna," Nightmare Moon commented as she leapt off and hovered close to ground level and fully extended both of her mighty wings, "just sit back and enjoy the fireworks."

Without warning what could only be described as the image of shooting stars began to fly forth from her wings, all aimed downward and crashing on and around Adunamai, each one exploding with violent force on impact, kicking up dust and smoke in every direction only to be disturbed by the next one doing the exact same, and in rapid succession.

_"What sort of magic is this? Why was I never made aware of the fact that we could do this?"_

"You never asked Little Luna, you were too preoccupied with your jealousy and implementing eternal night to care about the full extent of your abil-"

_"Look out!"_

Nightmare Moon was caught quite off guard by the incoming attack that practically slapped them to the side, sending them crashing into a tree and fracturing its trunk. She didn't know how, and apparently neither did Luna, but somehow Adunamai seemed able to withstand the force of their attack and counter. Perhaps they should've tried from a higher distance to ensure a lack of the ability to counterattack.

Standing up wasn't easy to pull off but it was doable, but it took a good bit of effort. As the dust cleared each of them could see that Adunamai was standing upright, looking unharmed despite the severity of the beating he'd received, in the middle of a rather large crater; the only proof that their barrage had actually had any punch to it.

_"This is not good,"_ Luna stated. As she righted herself her form was looking more ragged than previously, the right half of her helmet falling away and revealing Luna's true face underneath, _"very not good indeed."_

"Are you harmed Luna?" Nightmare Moon asked, catching the night princess off guard, both by the seeming concern and the lack of any derogatory title attached to her name.

_"Not that it is any of your concern, but I am unharmed,"_ Luna replied, _"it would seem we have all underestimated Adunamai's strength. We may not be able to continue delaying his advancement for long."_

Nightmare Moon forced herself to stand again, noting the numerous injuries that were making their presence known now. One wing was broken, the other numb and wouldn't move. There were fractures to her armor and the sensation of her powers were beginning to fluctuate, resulting in her appearance beginning to fade in and out and leave Luna in her place as if she didn't have enough magic to maintain her own corporeal nature for long.

"Had you met him while still consumed by your hatred this wouldn't be happening, I promise you that," Nightmare Moon snorted, "we may have to go ahead and use your trump card."

_"I was hoping that we would not have to resort to such drastic measures, at least not so early on,"_ Luna commented, _"unfortunately I am in agreement, it does not look like we have much alternative on the matter."_

* * *

"Ah think ah'm gonna be sick," Applejack commented woozily as they arrived at the destination, being the furthest Luna could teleport them. All this magical travel was going to be the end of her, she was sure of it. She shut her eyes in an effort to refocus herself and keep down what food she'd eaten during the rest they'd had.

"We don't have time for that Applejack, you'll just have to wait and be sick later," Twilight stated as she shook her head to get her bearings straightened out, "come on ponies we need to get moving. Princess Luna gave us this gift of a head start, we can't let it go to waste. There's no telling how long she'll be able to hold Adunamai off and we can't afford to stand around and talk like the central characters in a novel."

"Ah'm with ya Twilight, just gotta get myself centered again," Applejack replied, "but ah sure hate magic travellin'."

"I dunno about that Applejack, I think it feels good!" Pinkie Pie spoke up, her poofy mane and tail even poofier than normal, which she shook out easily, "you just blink and suddenly you're somewhere else and it's so cool You know that phrase about things happening in the blink of an eye? Well with teleportation it really happens, you blink your eyes and you're somewhere new by the time you open your eyes back up! I've so gotta learn how you can do that because it'd make it so much easier to organize parties for everypony...I could even throw multiple parties all over Ponyville!"

"Yeah we'll look into that later when we get back," Twilight replied sarcastically as she walked north. She really loved Pinkie Pie and all, but sometimes her randomness was too much for her to take.

"So how close do you think we are to the ruins anyway Twilight?" Spike asked as he hopped up on her back.

"No way of knowing that one, Spike, I've never seen this part of the Everfree Forest before. All we can do is keep heading north, which is...that way," she said as her horn started to glow and give off some light to see by.

"I'll go on ahead and scout out the area. Without Princess Luna we gotta keep an eye out for whatever may be in the woods and figure out how to avoid it," Rainbow Dash stated as she hovered off the ground, ready to take off without any further discussion.

"Not a good idea Rainbow Dash," Twilight interrupted, surprisingly causing the cyan pegasus to stop her takeoff and look at her, "you'd have no way of seeing what's out there in the darkness of the woods. You could get lost, trapped, hurt or any number of other bad things and we wouldn't be able to find you. It's best if we just stick together," she reasoned.

"Come on Twilight, I'm Equestria's fastest flyer, like anything could catch me," Rainbow Dash huffed in response and crossed her forelegs over her chest, not amused at her friend's complaints at all. She was ready to take off regardless, but by chance glanced up at the sky and went wide eyed at what the saw, "holy horse-apples! Look over there!" she yelled and pointed to the south.

Everypony looked up and to the south and soon caught glimpse of what Rainbow Dash was upset about; a shooting star trekking across the sky. At least that's what it looked like at first, but it was really visible and not just at the tail but at the head as well. And it wasn't streaking across the distant sky but looked like it was headed for the planet itself.

"What exactly is that?" Rarity asked.

"It's a meteor I think, although there was no mention of any astrological events like this happening in the near future. But even so it shouldn't be so visible. For it to be so clear, at that distance it'd have to be at least a mile across. And on that trajectory...oh no!"

"What all's wrong Twilight?" Applejack asked as her friend conjured those magical numbers again, filled with facts and figures that made her eyes spin if she tried to read them.

"Molecular density of granite for the sake of placeholder...estimated velocity...potential location of impact...oh no this is really bad! If that thing hits the ground it'll devastate the entire area!"

"Well then what're we waiting for let's get the buck outta here!" Rainbow Dash stated.

"You don't understand. If that meteor enters the planet's atmosphere and becomes a meteorite and hits with its current velocity the affects could be cataclysmic. Everything within five miles will be turned into a crater instantly. The next twenty miles easy will be exposed to explosive forces violent enough to uproot the entire forest, shatter granite boulders and," she gulped, "vaporize little ponies and dragons like they were made out of cardboard. Even if I tried teleporting us away from here right now we'd never get clear in time, we've only got about three minutes before impact."

"Again with the promise of doom? You sound like a broken record," Rainbow Dash commented. She was about to say something else but then stopped in mid-breath as an idea struck her, "Twilight, you know how to cast a forcefield, right?"

"Yes but it won't do any good, it'd be gone in no time and then so would we," Twilight explained.

"Don't worry about that now, just get ready to cast it. Applejack, Spike, help me dig a hole," Rainbow Dash instructed as she set down on the ground and started digging away as best she could, which wasn't the easiest thing to do with hooves.

"...Ah'm with ya sugarcube," Applejack said after a momentary pause and jumped right in, digging on the left while Spike took the right, "Rarity, Pinkie, a little help here!"

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie Pie replied with a degree of cheerfulness that really didn't suit the situation before diving into the pile of dirt and the hole it was born from.

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm actually going to dig in the dirt. My hooficure is going to be ruined for certain," Rarity moaned, "but I want to live! Move over darling!" she declared and joined in the digging fest with a zest that surprised everypony who was actually taking the time to watch the display.

"Rainbow Dash this'll never work! You're just digging your own graves," Twilight pointed out.

"Twilight," Rainbow Dash said as she stopped her digging to face the pessimistic unicorn, "how far away would you say we are from the source of impact?"

"Um...I'd have to say...twenty miles? But what difference does it make? We're still gonna get vaporized."

"Not if we can get this dug in time," Rainbow Dash stated and dove back into her work and doubled her efforts.

"But Rainbow Dash I just said my forcefield will never withstand the force of the coming blast hitting it head on."

"It doesn't have to. It's just gotta keep us safe from whatever flies overhead," Rainbow Dash stated.

For the life of her Twilight couldn't make sense of what Rainbow Dash was talking about. What did she think they could accomplish by digging a hole in the ground and her using a forcefield that was woefully inadequate for cataclysm-level events? But then like a slap to the face it hit her and her eyes went wide.

"...Rainbow Dash, Princess Luna was right you really are a genius! I could just kiss you!" she declared, and with no further talk took the space by Fluttershy and began digging away for all she was worth.

Dirt and rock was flying in every direction as every member of the Mane Six was digging away. The resulting hole was small at first and progress was extremely slow, but once it got rolling the results were beginning to come together. Before too long they had a nice sized hole that would provide them just enough room to hunker down and squeeze together, which they were already doing.

"Twilight, the forcefield!" Rainbow Dash instructed, although it wasn't necessary as she found themselves encased in a glowing purple field, sealing them off from the outside world.

"Five...four...three...two...one!" Twilight counted down to the moment of impact, having kept track of time during everything.

Right on cue in the distance could be heard the awfullest commotion imaginable. It was beyond description, beyond anypony's desire to even try and describe it. Everypony had to cover their ears to try and drown it out, shutting their eyes tightly for not wanting to see a thing.

And just as it had come the commotion was gone, leaving an eerie and still silence behind. Slowly the opened their eyes and uncovered their ears and began to look around.

"A-are we dead?" Fluttershy asked.

"No Fluttershy I think we survived," Twilight said as she looked up just to be sure. Surprisingly there was barely any debris resting on her forcefield, making it safe to drop.

One by one each of them climbed out of the hole to look around and be amazed at what they saw before them. The destruction level Twilight had suggested hadn't happened at all! All they could see was some rising smoke in the distance where the meteorite likely landed.

"Wha' happened? Or rather wha' didn't happen?" Applejack asked.

"I don't get it, my calculations said it should've been a cataclysmic event at that velocity. Meteors don't just slow down, and neither do meteorites. This shouldn't be physically possible, it just shouldn't. It's astronomically impossible," Twilight stated as she started to pace back and forth, her mind wracked with the mystery far more than the fact that they were currently alive and able to carry one, "meteors don't just do that...unless...unless it was actually a chunk of moon rock that Princess Luna was controlling the whole time..." she finished.

"You mean Princess Luna broke off a piece of her moon and used it against Adunamai?" Rarity asked.

"Well it'd make sense. Princess Luna said that she and Princess Celestia had put a number of contingency plans into place in the event of the worst case scenario. I guess weaponizing pieces of the moon wouldn't be out of the question. And it'd make sense that if you're using a one mile wide piece of rock you wouldn't need it to be traveling at such high velocities except to get it into position for the final drop at a much slower speed," Twilight theorized, "but still...wow..."

"That...is so...bucking...cool!" Rainbow Dash stated as the facts soaked in, "there's no way that Ana...that whatever his name is could've survived that, right?"

"He survived Princess Celestia's best shot after being buried alive for thousands of years. Call me cynical if you want but I think being buried under a chunk of moon may only slow him down some...and probably hurt really bad."

"I'm afraid Spike may be right. Adunamai isn't like previous villains. We've gotta keep operating under the assumption that he's still alive and still pursuing us once he gets out from under that rock. We've gotta keep heading north, For Princess Celestia's sake, Princess Luna's sake, and for the sake of all Equestria," Twilight stated, "let's get going everypony, we've got a long way to go and it's all up to us now from here on out!"

"Yeah!" Was the collective cheer from the group at Twilight's surprisingly successful rousing call to action. With a renewed vigor and a sense of loyalty, and with Twilight directing them northward, they all took off. If anypony was going to show Adunamai who the boss was it was going to be them.

* * *

Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon's music, The Night by Disturbed


	3. Sleepy time

**Chapter 3: Sleepy time**

"Oh my poor hooves..."

The Mane Six had started off their unescorted journey at full gallop, but it wasn't long before they had to slow down in pace and settle for walking. It was late, food was sparse, and they were more or less running on stubbornness and adrenaline; not the best combination of ingredients to try and fuel a marathon. And the longer they continued the slower their pace became. And the slower their pace became the more they were beginning to get cranky.

"And my coat is positively filthy. Oh I'd give anything for a nice relaxing bubble bath right now," Rarity sighed.

The rousing speech Twilight had delivered earlier in the evening had gotten them motivated to move, but motivation can only go so far and it wasn't all that long before they found themselves succumbing to their own physical weaknesses. Some moreso than others.

"Yeah good luck finding a bubble bath out here," Rainbow Dash snorted.

"Ooh! Wouldn't that be so cool if we actually could?" Pinkie Pie asked enthusiastically as she bounced along.

"Yeah I understand that but I've never been so dirty before, at least not since the Sisterhoove's Social. We may have survived Princess Luna's play but I just feel so grungy right now," Rarity whined.

"Oh fer the sake o' peat moss," Applejack exclaimed. Flipping her head up she dislodged her stetson hat, caught the brim in her teeth and deposited it on Rarity's head covering up her horn, "pretend yer an earth pony that don't mind gettin' dirty."

"Applejack darling I'm afraid it's not that easy," Rarity said as she paused to even out the hat on her head, "I'm a fashionista, style is in my blood. One can't simply become something they're not at the drop of a hat," she explained.

"What the hay you talkin' about? You're a terrific actor, Rarity, remember the Heart's Warming Eve pageant in Canterlot? Just get inta character," Applejack told her.

"I admire your confidence in me Applejack, but playing a part in a pageant and trying to be somepony you're not isn't the same thing," Rarity objected.

"Oh no?" Applejack asked and cleared her throat before addressing her again, "you may find out that if you're intent and motivated at achieving a goal, that you can do many things you once thought simply weren't possible because you lacked confidence in yourself," she stated, her voice devoid of her trademark accent, which nearly caused Rarity to trip and fall forward.

"How did you do that!?" she asked, amazed at what she was hearing.

"Aunt an' Uncle Orange in Manehattan. They tried ta help me fit in with the big city folk to the point I learned how ta drop ma accent. O'course city life weren't fer me none so I dropped that like a hot tater an' came back to Sweet Apple Acres where I didn't have to be something I'm not," Applejack explained as she slipped back into her accent, before she cleared her throat again, "but if I want I can still talk in this uppity citypony tone," she finished, again without her accent.

Up ahead Spike was trying to suppress his laughs. Despite being exhausted as everypony else he was finding the banter amusing nonetheless. At least he was until Twilight fell face forward, sending him falling to the ground as well.

"Twilight are you okay?" Spike asked as he pushed himself up off the ground.

"I'm fine, just really tired. It's getting harder to walk," she replied, not even bothering to lift her head but rather just roll her face over so it wasn't in the dirt, "I think we should all stop and rest..."

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Fluttershy stated and nodded in agreement, sitting herself down on the ground.

"I'll see if I can find us some wood to start a fire," Spike announced and headed off without waiting for a response.

Seeing that their unofficial leader was in no position to continue on the rest of them decided to take a break as well and sat down in various spots close by.

"...Just like that?" Twilight barely registered the sound of Rarity's voice coming from somewhere behind her. She was too tired to care about what was going on with the white uppity unicorn right now.

"Jus' like that, bein' an earth pony is easy. If ya gotta spit then ya spit, if ya gotta burp then ya just let rip an' don't worry none about being dainty. If you gotta fart-" Applejack explained but was interrupted by a disgusted Rarity.

"I get the idea Applejack, although I wish I didn't. Sometimes you can be so crude."

"-and that's another thing. If yer gonna pretend to be a dirty earth pony ya don't obsess with crudeness, it's an occupational hazard and ya don't apologize for it, ya just go about your business and don't pay it no mind," Applejack finished, briefly wondering if her advice was going to be more of a hindrance than just listening to Rarity whine. Shrugging to herself she hocked and spat off to the side, earning a disgusted look from Rarity, "yer turn."

"Hey where's Rainbow Dash!?"

The excited yell that came from Pinkie Pie shook everybody out of what they were doing, nearly causing Spike to choke on his own flame as he was in the process of trying to get the fire going so they could see. Sure enough a glance around showed everypony else was present except for the cyan pegasus.

"She was just here, I don't know where she got to," Fluttershy stated.

Twilight groaned loudly as she pushed herself back up onto all four feet. They really didn't need this right now, they couldn't have ponies disappearing without warning like that, this could be serious trouble if she was gone. What if she'd gotten foalnapped in the darkness and was now being made into dinner for some roaming band of carnivores with a craving for pegasus meat!? "Rainbow Dash!"

"Geez Egghead, I thought you were too tired to walk. Now you're jumping around and yelling?"

Everypony looked up at hearing Rainbow Dash's voice above head, seeing that she was safe and sound, flying high in the sky and...gathering clouds together? It really didn't make sense but that's what it looked like she was doing.

"RD just wha' the hay are you doin' up there?" Applejack asked.

"Making sleeping arrangements. Call me crazy if you want but I don't think sleeping on the forest floor, at night, in the middle of the_ Everfree Forest_ is that smart of a move. Do you?" she asked rhetorically, before flying off and snagging another cloud to drag back over to the rest, "besides if that Aza...whatever it's name is, if it survived Luna smashing it with a moon rock then being off the ground for the night may be the safest place to be while we're resting," she explained.

"Not that I question your reasoning Rainbow Dash, but just how are we supposed to get up there? You and Fluttershy might be fine but earth ponies and unicorns are ground types," Twilight pointed out.

"I know that Twi' I'm not an idiot. I also know that you can cast a cloud-walking spell for extended periods of time, like you did for everypony during the young flyer's competition, and like you did for Tank. Surely you've got enough magic to do that, right? After that it's just a matter of me and Fluttershy lifting everybody upward and we're good for the night," Rainbow Dash explained.

"Yay! I always wanted to know what it's like to sleep on a cloud!" Pinkie Pie cheered and hopped about excitedly.

"I tell ya what RD that makes an awful lot o' sense," Applejack stated.

"Yeah it does. Alright I'll see what I can do," Twilight said and closed her eyes to concentrate. The cloud-walking spell wasn't noted for being difficult to cast, or for requiring a massive amount of magical power to actually achieve, but in her exhausted state it was going to require some effort to pull off. She could feel the glow of her horn being charged with magic, and she could sense the magic surrounding the five of them that didn't have any wings. Finally it was complete and she could stop, "done," she sighed and slumped to the ground.

"BOOYAH!" Came Pinkie's excited yell as she jumped with excitement rather than simply bouncing with joy. But it wasn't any simple excited jump but rather one that took her really high up by earth pony standards, allowing her to hang onto the edge of one of the clouds and pull herself the rest of the way up before plopping down, "oh this is so cozy! This feels even better than sleeping on a giant marshmallow! Not that I've actually had the opportunity to sleep on a giant marshmallow before because you know they're really expensive and the Cakes could never afford something like that but you know how soft the little marshmallows are so you can just imagine how soft a marshmallow a million times bigger has to feel."

"Yeah...Pinkie Pie you are so random," Rainbow Dash replied, still amazed that she could actually jump that high. Not that the clouds were all that high off the ground, just above the treetops, but still. Regardless she turned her attention back to the ground where the others stood, "you all ready?"

"Ready when you are RD," Applejack stated.

"Indeed, the sooner we can get off this dirty ground the better," Rarity added.

Twilight said nothing more than a mumble in the ground.

"You ready Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I-I think so, I just hope I can do this," Fluttershy replied.

"Nothing we haven't done before," she replied as she came down and hovered above Applejack and wrapped her forelegs around her chest, "up we go AJ."

"R-ready Rarity?" Fluttershy asked.

"Indeed darling," Rarity replied and allowed herself to be enveloped and lifted off the ground, although she noted that it took Fluttershy a little more effort to lift her than it did Rainbow Dash to life Applejack. But soon enough she was gently deposited on what had to be the softest resting place in all of Equestria, "oh my...this is so plush, so luxurious...I can't remember the last time I ever enjoyed anything this soft before," she practically moaned.

"You ain't jus' whistlin' dixie Rar', this is even more cozy than my bed back home after a hard day's work," Applejack replied, finding the unicorn's explanation to be right on the mark for a change. She could really get used to this, "no wonder Rainbow Dash likes nappin' on clouds so often, now we know."

"Hey you make it sound like I'm a lay slacker," Rainbow Dash stated in annoyance as she tried to work at effectively lifting Twilight up while Fluttershy tended to Spike, "I get all my weather work done in a timely manner, it's not my fault Equestria's schedule is so easy that I've got lots of extra time on my hooves."

"Aw jus' settle down there RD I didn't mean anything by it," Applejack replied and more or less apologized. Rainbow Dash just frowned and stuck her tongue out before setting Twilight down on her own cloud where she more or less collapsed on the spot.

"Comfy?" Rainbow Dash asked, Twilight just mumbled something and didn't move, "I'll take that as a yes," she replied and leaped over to her own cloud to settle in for the night.

"I guess it's a good thing Pinkie stopped me from lighting that fire afterall," Spike yawned as he settled in for a well earned sleep.

* * *

She bolted awake in a cold sweat, gasping for air as she looked around wide eyed, trying to get her bearings in the darkness. Where was she? Why were the stars so visible? Why was her bed so cozy and soft right now? Why was Rainbow Dash standing over her and looking down at her with a concerned look on her face?

"Rainbow Dash? What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"You know when you're having a nightmare you're one noisy pony?" Rainbow Dash asked in response and sat herself down, "I'm surprised the others wide awake after that. If I hadn't had to wake up to take care of some business there's no telling how loud you would've gotten, prob'ly draw every hungry animal for five miles right to our spot," she scolded.

"I'm sorry Rainbow Dash. I was...I think dreaming about Princess Celestia and...it all went to hay really fast," Twilight explained.

"Hey I don't need an explanation I'm just saying," Rainbow Dash replied, "now look it's late and we need our sleep, alright? We gotta be well rested for when we get going again."

"I know, I know," Twilight replied and laid back down on her cloud, taking note that it indeed was cozy, "sorry about all the noise."

"Hey no harm no fowl, at least this time anyway. Although if I didn't wake you up when I did you might've rolled over the side of the cloud and hit the ground. We're gonna have to do something about that," Rainbow Dash explained. After a pause she moved over and laid herself down next to Twilight."

"Rainbow Dash?"

"I don't really know any other idea for securing a unicorn to a cloud, it's not like ropes would work. So I think the best way to keep you up here is to hold onto you so you can't roll loose again," she said as she got herself positioned and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight's midsection, "with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna gone you're by default the smartest pony present, so we've gotta keep an eye on you if this journey is going to be anything more than a gigantic waste of time."

"Thanks Rainbow Dash," Twilight replied as she settled in to get comfortable again.

"Don't mention it. Just one thing though, this isn't an invitation to try any of your filly foolin' tricks, I don't swing that way. So if you even make one attempt at kissing me I promise you, you _will_ be wearing my hoofprints on your flanks, understand?" Rainbow Dash warned.

"What? Filly fooling? Rainbow how could you ever suggest that...oh..." she paused, remembering her statement earlier in the evening when she realized the extent of Rainbow Dash's plan for the moon rock impact, "I didn't mean it like that Rainbow Dash, I promise. No filly fooling."

"That's good," Rainbow Dash replied and yawned, "you're a good friend and all but you're certainly no stallion," she said as she settled in to get some shut eye.

"...Rainbow Dash? Can I ask you a question?" Rainbow Dash said nothing but cracked open an eye to more or less address her, "when exactly did you get to be so...brilliant?"

"If I answer, do you promise to go to sleep so I can go to sleep?" she asked as she tiredly raised her head. Twilight nodded in agreement to the requirement, meaning she could lay her head back down again on a particularly soft patch of cloud, "I've always been smart, you don't get to be on the weather team by being completely stupid. But being able to work complex calculations in your head isn't exactly crowd pleasing; not the kinda crowds I'm after anyway. There are no cheers or applause for flaunting how well you can read advanced weather charts to decipher how the air currents may affect the placement of clouds for a spring rain," she explained and yawned, "I wanna show off for the crowd, to get into the Wonderbolts for my acrobatic abilities and put on the best shows you've ever seen in your life! You're much better suited for showing off Egghead qualities than I am, being magic and all that, knowing ancient and obscure spells like the back of your hoof," she yawned again.

"...Thanks Rainbow Dash," Twilight responded. However she didn't receive a response as Rainbow Dash was now lightly snoring, out like a light, "sleep tight Rainbow Dash. You're a pretty good Egghead yourself," she whispered and settled in for some rest of her own. Tomorrow was going to be a very long, very hard day and they needed to be prepared for whatever may come.


	4. Multi-colored beatdown

**Chapter 4: Multicolored beat down  
**

Everypony was fast asleep on their cloud beds, each out like a light and resting comfortably. The day had been very long and filled with more stress than anypony could believe was even possible, and they were all exhausted and in need of shut eye. The way they felt right now there was no way they were waking up for anything.

Anything that is except for a blood curdling roar from the south that shook all of them from an otherwise sound sleep. In a flash nopony was sleeping anymore, and the way they felt it was possible none of them was going to sleep again.

"Wha' the buck was that?" Applejack was the first to ask.

Another roar sounded, this time far closer than anypony was prepared for. Frantically they all looked around for the source of the noise, looking up, down and to the sides, but there was no sign of everything.

"Where could that dreadful noise be coming from?" Rarity asked, shortly before another roar sounded off to her left. Spinning around quickly she nearly tripped on her own hooves at the source of the noise; Pinkie Pie was still out like a light, splayed out on her back, snoring in the most unladylike manner she had ever seen, along with her stomach growling almost in response to all the commotion, "oh for the love of Celestia," she moaned and facehooved. She'd given up a good night's rest for this?

"Whew, false alarm," Spike replied as he wiped the swear from his forehead and collapsed back on the cloud he was sleeping on, "what a relief."

"Unbelievable," Twilight moaned. They had been so on edge over the threat of Adunamai that every little noise was starting to set them off; not that Pinkie's snoring or stomach growling were little noises, but to think that the growl of a hungry earth pony was comparable to the blood curdling roar of that walking mass of evil that was responsible for so many violent deaths? The stress was getting to them, no two ways about it, "anypony feel like they could go back to sleep?" she asked.

"I would've if I hadn't shot outta bed to get a better view," Rainbow Dash announced from her spot in the air, having left Twilight's side to act as a lookout the moment she'd woken up.

"Ah've slept through a whole lotta commotion before but Pinkie's snorin' is way too loud for me," Applejack replied and yawned, "what time is it anyway? How long we been out?"

"That's a good question Applejack, I don't really know," Twilight responded as she looked up at the moon to try and figure out the answer. Usually the position of the moon on a clear night was a good indication of what hour it was, but something was different this time around that threw that measure right out the window, "the moon...it hasn't moved since Princess Luna raised it."

"Say what?" Rarity asked and looked up, squinting at the moon, "you're right dear Twilight. The moon always moves in accordance with the hours. What does this mean?"

"I don't know, Rarity, I've never seen this before except...except for when Nightmare Moon was free and eternal night was in place. But..." she paused, had Princess Luna actually become Nightmare Moon again and her resurrection caused eternal night again? Worse, what if she was dead and the night would never end because there was nopony left to raise the sun and the moon accordingly anymore, "...we might have worse problems than we thought," Twilight mumbled to herself.

"Say what Twi'?" Rainbow Dash asked as she came down for a landing on her original cloud.

"Nothing Rainbow Dash," Twilight replied, not wanting to get the others excited by her unconfirmed fears about the sun and the moon, "what say we get something to eat and then get moving? Those ruins aren't going to find themselves," she said and changed the subject.

"Oh that sounds so good right now I'm starving; pretending to be an earth pony is harder than I thought," Rarity stated and readjusted the stetson Applejack had lent her.

"Ah don' know Twilight. I mean, Luna let Adunamai have it with dropping the moon rock on 'him an' all. Do ya really think he survived _that_?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah Twilight I'm starting to have doubts about that too. I mean, I flew back to the crash sight and looked, remember? I couldn't even get close. That rock was still glowing hot from entering the atmosphere and was buried like halfway in the ground. Could _anything_ survive something like that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"If it were really that easy, I'd like to think Princess Celestia would've tried it when Adunamai first appeared thousands of years ago," Twilight replied shortly before her stomach grumbled, "somepony wanna wake up Pinkie Pie so we can eat?"

As if on cue Pinkie Pie was not only awake but alert, standing on all four and looking around. "Did somepony mention food?" she asked excitedly. Twilight just shook her head.

"So how exactly do we get down from here? Do we jump or somethin'?" Applejack asked as she looked over the side of the cloud she was perched on. It wouldn't be impossible to make a landing in one of the trees and use the branches to reach the ground. At least it wouldn't be hard for her, the others she wasn't sure about.

"We won't need to do anything quite that desperate just yet, Applejack, hold on," Twilight replied as her horn glowed. In a flash they were all down back on the ground, "there we go. Let's eat."

"Ah tell ya what Twilight I wish ya'd quit doin' stuff like that. Teleportin' an' all is hard on ma stomach," Applejack complained as she slumped to the ground.

"Sorry Applejack, but it was the quickest way to get everypony down safely. And if we're going to get anywhere we're gonna need quick. Going by what Princess Celestia showed us the temple is still a long, long way off. And on hoof is going to slow us down," Twilight explained.

"Yeah it's too bad we're not all pegasi, then we could reach the temple and the remnant a whole lot faster," Rainbow Dash pointed out as the food was starting to be broken out.

"...Hey wait that gives me an idea," Spike spoke up and turned to Twilight, "Twilight remember how you studied gravity spells for that test on the Crystal Empire?" he asked.

"Well of course I remember that Spike," Twilight started, but was quickly interrupted as Spike continued.

"So you could do something like cast that anti-gravity spell on us so we could float? And then Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy could pull us along as they flew and we could get there quicker?" he asked.

"You mean we'd get to be balloons?" Pinkie asked excitedly. However any further rambling was stopped as Applejack put her hoof over her mouth.

"Well it really is a great idea Spike, but that was a while ago and I don't have my spell books with me. If I try and cast the spell and use the wrong ratio there's no telling what could happen. We could become so light we'd float away into space, or we might all wind up so heavy we couldn't even move. The strain from such weight could cause severe injury, it might even drive us into the ground because there would be too much localized density, like dropping a rock into a pond. It's too dangerous to try," Twilight explained.

"Now hold on a minute," Applejack spoke up, "that spell can make ya heavy enough ya can actually _sink_ into the ground, like through all the layers o' dirt an' all?" she asked. Twilight nodded, "well alright then! We might just have somethin' we can actually use."

"What're you getting any AJ?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well don't ya see Rainbow Dash? Twilight's spell might not be able ta make us float like balloons, but if Adunamai survived Luna's moon rock an' still comin' after us then maybe she could sink 'im deep underground an' give us all more time ta get ta the temple an' find the relic," Applejack explained before turning back to Spike, "way to go there little guy."

"Well if that's the case then I'm all for it. I say we proceed back and send that detestable creature straight to the planet's core where it can never get free from again," Rarity stated.

"It's not that simple!" Twilight yelled to be heard over everypony else getting too caught up in their only plans to hear her, "yes we could go back there and try to carry out this plan if we wanted to, but there's no guarantee it'll work. Like I said I don't remember the exact ratios for the spell so there's no way to guarantee what might happen. Adunamai might wind up sinking into the deepest recesses of the planet never to be seen from again. But it could just as easily send him into the stratosphere and beyond where he'll eventually get stuck in Equestria's atmospheric orbit and eventually crash land who knows where, possibly in a location we'll never be able to reach. Even if we did, without knowing the exact nature of the remnant there's no way to be sure we'd even be able to bring it with us," she explained, before being forced to stop and take a breath while she let it all sink in, "I'm not saying it's a bad idea. But there are too many unknown variables right now to try it. We'd be much better off simply continuing on north like we've been doing."

Nopony had much to say after hearing Twilight explain the situation, each one of them silently more or less agreeing with things as she explained them. There were too many unchecked variables right now and none of them wanted to make the situation worse, like sending Adunamai somewhere where he could hurt and kill a lot of innocent ponies he otherwise wouldn't have touched. Instead they just settled in to eat something before moving on. However even though the moment was peaceful that didn't mean there was actual peace to be had.

"Something's...really weird here," Fluttershy observed as she looked around inbetween bites at her food.

"Well we _are_ in an unexplored region of the Everfree Forest and all. Things are bound to be weird here," Rainbow Dash replied through a mouthful of food.

"That's just it Rainbow Dash. The Everfree Forest isn't a quiet place, it's filled with all kinds of dangerous creatures. So why haven't we heard so much as a cricket chirp since we got here?" Fluttershy asked. Everypony stopped in the middle of their eating to look around their surroundings and note the indeed lack of noise that was to be had. This was by no means normal, in fact it was downright spooky!

"F-Flutteryshy, you're the animal expert. W-what does it usually mean when the things in the Everfree Forest aren't making noise and trying to eat you?" Twilight asked.

"I really don't know, Twilight, I've never heard the forest so quiet before. But...there's a sense of it being peaceful here, it's almost calming and relaxing," Fluttershy replied, the look on her face suggesting she felt happy right now, "it's like we're...being protected..."

"Huh...could this be what Princess Luna was talking about? Maybe she cast some enchantment so we'd be safe?" Spike asked.

"I guess anything could be possible Spike," Twilight replied, not having actually given that any thought. Princess Luna had said she'd be with them, but she never thought about it in that way before. But then again passive enchantments weren't something she'd had much opportunity to study before.

They took a long moment to stop and actually observe the tranquil feeling around them. Despite it all there was something peaceful in the air right now. It wasn't like back in Ponyville, but...it certainly wasn't like the Everfree Forest. But peaceful moments never lasted forever and everypony soon remembered why they were here and what needed to be done. Quickly they returned back to eating.

"Ugh this is so barbaric, not even an opportunity to wash your hooves off before sitting down to a meal," Rarity complained despite the fact she was using her horn to levitate her food.

"That's no way fer an earth pony ta be talkin' and whatnot," Applejack pointed out, having no objection to simply wiping her hooves off her coat to indulge in some otherwise fine eating. Not that she would actually eat when covered head to hoof in mud if it could be avoided, but Rarity was making too much of a fuss about her coat not being snow white right now.

"Being an earth pony is harder than it looks," Rarity muttered to herself and shook her head. This whole playing the part thing wasn't turning out like she'd thought, it wasn't serving all that great as a coping mechanism right now. Her coat was dirty, she was itchy, Applejack's hat was smelly and tilted, oh sweet Celestia why her?

"Whatever," Rainbow Dash muttered as she scarfed down one of the apples, "I'm gonna go on ahead and scout what's ahead, see if we're anywhere near the ruins," she said as she stood up again.

"Rainbow Dash we've already been over this. It's too dark and it's too dangerous to go by yourself, the reasons from last night haven't changed," Twilight stated.

"Twi' it still _is_ last night," Rainbow Dash pointed out, "and gimme one good reason why I shouldn't; besides the ones from earlier."

Twilight was fully prepared to launch into a lengthy explanation of why trekking off through the Everfree Forest at dark on your own was a bad idea, not limited to just the creatures that could be encountered but the damage posed by the forest itself in the form of poisonous plants, falling rocks and more plants. However any reply she could've given was stopped from being formed by a blood curling roar in the distance; a real one this time that sent shivers down each of their spines, not one generated by the sleep deprived imagination of a bunch of ponies who'd just heard a traveling companion's stomach growling. This time around there was no doubting it, that was definitely Adunamai in the distance.

"How about that?" Twilight proposed.

"Ya gotta be _kiddin_'! He survived Princess Luna droppin' that rock on 'is head?" Applejack asked in disbelief, "what's it gonna take ta stop that thing?!"

"I don't know but I really don't wanna stick around and find out. Alright everypony we're leaving now before he finds us," Twilight stated quickly as she started working on her teleportation spell.

"Hold on Twilight," Rainbow Dash said as she dug around in her saddlebag and pulled out a set of goggles, slipping them over her neck before tossing the bags over to Applejack to carry.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked.

"You can get more distance with fewer ponies, right?" Rainbow Dash asked, two which Twilight absently nodded, "you guys go on ahead without me. I'm gonna stay here and serve as a distraction, see if I can buy you some more time to get outta here safely," she explained. The reaction she got was pretty much right up there with what they'd all given Princess Luna when she'd made the same statement. All voices shouting at her, calling her crazy, pleading with her not to do it, etc. She didn't expect any less from her friends.

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both had immeasurable levels of magic and tried and they both died! Rainbow Dash you don't stand a chance in a fight with Adunamai!" Twilight stated, only one of the voices actually heard through it all.

"Who said anything about fighting?" Rainbow Dash asked during a rare moment when the others weren't saying anything, "I'm not crazy enough to think about fighting him head on, I'm just gonna be a distraction and slow him down for ya. The longer I keep him busy the more time you've got to get away from here. I can just zoom circles around him for hours and then take off and catch up with you later. And after what Princess Celestia and Princess Luna put him through he can't be in too good of shape, he could just be hanging together and got no fight left in him for all we know," she explained, pausing to look towards the south and then back at them again, "listen, I love you guys, but it doesn't make sense for us all to stick together like this. Twi' you said it yourself this thing can overtake us if we don't do something so I've gotta be the something. I've got the best chance out of anypony getting in and getting back out again without getting hurt or killed."

"But Rainbow Dash," Twilight tried to plead.

"Twilight, with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna gone you're automatically the smartest pony present, meaning that out of everypony here you've got the best chance of figuring out just how to get that relic functioning so we can stop this thing. It matters most that you get to the ruins safe and sound, we're all more or less expendable whether we like it not and I recognize that fact," Rainbow Dash explained, "Applejack, Pinkie Pie, can you and the others get Twilight to the ruins while I run interference?"

"We can do it sugarcube but leavin' ya'll behind don't sit too well with this pony none," Applejack replied.

"Yeah Dashie, you brought us all together with your Sonic Rainboom and gave us our cutie marks! What would we do without you?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Yes darling please thing this through, surely there are other options available," Rarity added.

Another roar in the distance, one bad enough to send them all shaking. Adunamai was getting closer and announcing himself.

"Hey like I said I'm just gonna distract him. Get in, get out, hide on a cloud he can't reach, he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be a piece of cake," Rainbow Dash replied casually to try and calm them down, "now go on and scram, you guys're wasting time just standing around and talking."

"No, not again," Twilight objected, "we can't keep losing ponies, everypony that stays behind winds up dying. Princess Celestia said we had to stay together for the future, the Elements of Harmony can't get broken up," she stated, becoming more hysterical as she continued.

Rainbow Dash sighed and shook her head, Twilight was being impossible to work with and wouldn't listen to reason. This was going to require one of those desperate times things, she could see that. And she had an idea of what to do to really get some cooperation out of her.

"Twilight do you remember what I said earlier?" she asked as she stepped closer to her, "well it still stands but...ah what the hay?" she sighed. Leaning in she placed a kiss on the unicorn's lips, much to the surprise of everypony present. When she looked again Twilight's eyes were wide with shock and the others had their mouths hanging open, unable to believe what they just saw take place, "alright enough of that. Get her outta here before she comes to again, and when she does get her to teleport everypony further away. And tell her when she gets the relic running to give Agibany an extra one for me," she instructed.

"Adunamai!"

"Whatever, just go!" Rainbow Dash yelled shortly before another roar sounded, much closer than ever before and making them highly uncomfortable.

Nopony wanted to admit that Rainbow Dash was right on the matter, that she was best qualified to be a nuisance and was best suited for staying behind to provide them a distraction to get away. Nopony wanted to, but deep down they knew she was right. Without another word they all got moving north again, with Spike and Fluttershy dragging Twilight along until her legs got moving on her own again. Rainbow Dash watched as they left, the image growing smaller as they got further away until they were finally out of her sight. Now she was alone on this matter...

"Don't worry you guys I'll be alright," Rainbow Dash muttered to herself as she watched the dust settle back into place. It was easy to be brave in front of them when she had their strength surrounding her and offsetting whatever insecurities she had regarding herself, but when she was on her own all she had to rely on was herself. Not that she was scared or anything, far from it! She was the bravest flyer in Equestria and nopony outmatched her!

"Hey wait a minute. Why'm I just waiting here to be found? Forget that I'm going after him!" she stated and took to the air. Waiting around was for losers and took up way too much time that could be better used in slowing him down, giving the others time to get away, stuff like that, "alright I just gotta keep an eye out for that walking pile of death and destruction. Surely something that evil can't be that hard to see, right?" she asked herself as she looked around. Sure enough she didn't have long to wait as it was directly up ahead, still some distance away but still way too close for comfort.

"Booyah!"

If Adunamai had seen Rainbow Dash's approach, the only visible sign being a cyan blur traveling through the air at high speeds, the reaction came far too late to stop her from slamming right into his chest hooves first, with enough force to pick it right up off the ground as she continued traveling along, before dropping him back to the ground to perform a midair loop.

"Hey! Tall, dark and ugly! Remember me!?" Rainbow Dash called as she came back down and hovered in his view, her front forelegs folded over her chest in a boisterous manner, "I'm the fastest, strongest, bravest flyer in all of Equestria! And if you think you're getting past me and getting at my friends then you've got another thing coming to you Amigadan!" she stated.

Adunamai seemed less than amused or interested and simply stood back up, paying little regard to Rainbow Dash as anything other than an annoyance.

"I didn't say you could get back up again!" Rainbow Dash stated and swooped in, spinning around in midair to kick Adunamai in the chest, sending it staggering back from the impact. However that was just the beginning as she quickly followed up with getting in close and a quick series of successive stomps to the head, before zipping off north again, "catch me if you can!" she taunted.

Even after all that had happened Adunamai's approach was slow and lumbering like always, footfalls heavy and deliberate to induce fear and terror rather than keep pace with something so small and fast.

Without warning lightning began to rain down all around. Large bolts of lightning coming down and striking the ground and Adunamai as well as anything else that was in the way. Looking upward it was easy to see Rainbow Dash jumping between the clouds gathered from the previous night for sleeping purposes. And with so many clouds to choose from she had an impressive arsenal to select from.

"There's no way on Equestria that I'm letting you anywhere near my friends!" she exclaimed as she hopped between each cloud and stomped on it to generate another lightning burst before moving onto the next one and repeating the process.

However despite the impressive barrage of lightning raining down it seemed Adunamai was either unimpressed or simply unaffected and continued the trek northward, walking right out from under the clouds.

"Hey hold it! I just finished saying I'm not letting you anywhere near my friends, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do!" Rainbow Dash stated angrily, now at the point of hopping mad at being ignored, "enough of those foal's games, you're getting the rainbow tornado!" She slipped on her goggles before plunging into a nosedive and immediately righting herself before flying around Adunamai, making multiple passes in quick succession and soon generating an impressive sized tornado around him. Even if he could just shrug off the lightning generated from non-storm clouds nopony could escape the pulling force of a tornado. "Let's see how well you fly!"

At first Adunamai was unaffected by the forces generated, but that quickly came to an end and he became quickly propelled upward and skyward, becoming victim to the direction of the tornado's spin.

"Gotcha now!" Rainbow Dash yelled in swooped in on the next pass, plowing into Adunamai's back full force, thus disrupting the stability of the tornado while at the same time propelling him backward. However unlike last time this wasn't a simple hit and run attack meant to impede his advancement. Instead she was going to push him as far away from the others as she could. And with her wingpower being as high as it was that was gonna be pretty far, "oh yeah! What're you gonna do now Adidas?!" she taunted.

As if on cue Adunamai reached around behind its back and swatted Rainbow Dash off to the side, a move that she managed to dodge but was still sent careening out of control into the side of a tree, at the same time interrupting the flight and resulting in a hard crash to the ground and bouncing before skidding to a halt and digging a trench in the ground.

"Horse-apples," Rainbow Dash muttered and shook her head to clear her senses. She really should've seen that one coming but she'd missed it entirely and nearly gotten creamed. And on top of it she'd lost sight of that...thing. Where the buck could it be now? However she didn't have long to look since there was an awful commotion down below, signalling just where to find him. "Round two!" She bellowed and took off like a shot.

Her approach was fast and hard, resulting in a clipping pass to the side of the head as she swooped on by, before veering off to come back around for a follow up shot, practically bouncing off the shoulder blades and heading off to the side. From there is was only a matter of time before her overall approach resembled a pinball game with her slamming into and off of him, staggering him with each successive hit; including one particularly brutal zooming uppercut right to the chin that caused his feet to leave the ground before falling backward.

"How do you like them apples?" she asked as she hovered overhead and looked down smugly. What'd she have to worry about anyway? She was the fastest flyer in Equestria, there was no way anything could catch her! Triumphantly and full of smugness she blew a raspberry.

Adunamai's reaction was quick and nearly devastating to Rainbow Dash who just barely managed to avoid the upward swipe. When had he gotten that fast!? It didn't take nearly long enough for him to get back to his feet before following up with another attempt to grab her, but this time around it was much easier to dodge, not that it did anything to stop any followup attempts, and now she found herself put on the defense as she was trying to avoid getting caught on those massive hands.

"Now I can see why the Princesses had so much trouble with this guy!" she said to herself as she barely managed to avoid a downward swipe that would've snagged her left wing. This close in stuff was getting way too dangerous and warranted putting some distance between herself and him, "I guess Princess Celestia and Princess Luna didn't slow him down any in their fights," she muttered as she flew up and out of the way to escape his reach, "and how can something that's so big and awkward be so quick on the move? Can he snatch a hummingbird right out of the air?"

Looking down she could see Adunamai was again on the move, heading northward just as before, seeming to completely lose interest in her presence. What was up with him? Unless she was down there mixing it up with him he seemed content to ignore her and just continue onward to try and find the rest of the Mane Six. What was...she stopped that train of thought when it suddenly occurred to her; the only logical explanation was that she was serving as a nuisance, and unless she was down there where he could possibly hurt her he didn't care about her actions and would just ignore her.

"So that's how it is huh?" she asked rhetorically. If he wanted a fight she'd give him a fight, she'd give him one hay of a fight! "Round three, horse-apples for brains!"

* * *

"Is Dashie gonna be okay on her own with that big meanie head back there?"

They'd been running at full gallop as soon as Twilight's teleportation had ended, an absolute necessity considering the difference in distance compared to what Princess Luna could do with the same spell. But even now, driven by fear and focus and the need to make it to the ruins, they still couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Rainbow Dash had remained behind to buy them more time.

"I don't know Pinkie, I hope so," Twilight breathed as she struggled to keep pace with the rest of them, "Rainbow doesn't have magic like the Princesses do so she can't fight as hard, but she said she was just going to distract Adunamai while we escape and would catch up with us later," she panted, "if she just flies about and acts like a nuisance she should be fine."

"Well if bein' a nuisance is all she gotta do then Rainbow's gonna be just fine. Ah never met a stubborner an' more annoyin' pony before in ma entire life," Applejack stated, "and jus' what the hay was up with that kiss anyway?"

"I don't know Applejack, I don't know," Twilight replied as she desperately tried to suppress the blush that was born from those memories, she had to stay focused on more important matters at hoof, like the stitch in her side right now that was making it difficult to run with the others and was currently slowing her down. Spike riding on her back didn't help either, "can't keep up..." she panted.

"No worries Twilight, the Pinkie Pie Express is at your service," Pinkie exclaimed and ducked her head under Twilight's waist and with an almost disgusting lack of effort managed to scoop her up onto her back without missing a beat and keeping pace with the others, "sorry but there aren't any snacks on this ride."

"Pinkie you really are random. But thanks," Twilight replied just before they swerved to miss a rock. Unfortunately Pinkie's approach was extreme and the force sent Spike flying from her back with an excited yell of fear, "Spike!"

"I've got you," Fluttershy stated as she leaped into action, taking to the air and catching spike in her forelegs, "see, no need to worry. I won't let anything happen to you."

"Thanks Fluttershy," Spike replied in a grateful manner before being eased onto her back as she continued flying along.

Their progress however was soon rocked by a loud explosion in the distance, causing them all to go skidding and toppling to a halt in surprise. Looking back in the direction they came they could see a rising rainbow-colored mushroom cloud, and the advancement of a massive multicolored shock wave that kicked up dust and debris in its path as it traveled along unimpeded, heading right in their direction.

"Hit the dirt!"

Everypony hunkered down as best they could, covering their head with their forelegs as Twilight immediately deployed a forcefield around them, debris of all sizes bouncing off of it as the shock wave traveled overhead, a large cloud of dust traveling in its wake and smashing against the protective barrier around them.

"Was that the Sonic Rainboom?" Rarity asked as she finally looked up and saw the mushroom cloud fading.

"Looked more like Rainbow's atomic barn buster ta me," Applejack replied as she stood herself back up again. The last time she'd seen Rainbow Dash use that move the results had been devastating, but that was rather up close. This was a lot further away...and still just as devastating even at this distance, "girl must'a gone all out."

"Ohmygosh!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "does this mean that Rainbow Dash is..."

"Don' think so Pinkie. Last time Rainbow Dash did that on ma old barn she was just fine afterwards. That mare's got way too hard a head to get hurt from somethin' like that," Applejack explained in her best attempt to calm whatever fears were brewing in them. She wasn't the smartest of the group and she was both aware of and comfortable with that knowledge, but even she knew that they didn't have time right now to be entertaining their own worst fears about the possible death of their friend.

"We...probably shouldn't wait around here to see where this goes. Rainbow Dash...she said she can catch up with us, let's...let's get going," Twilight struggled to say. Everypony nodded silently in agreement, not saying a word as they continued racing on. They all knew they had to get to the ruins, now more than ever.

* * *

Rainbow Dash's music, Indestructible by Disturbed


	5. Beauty and the beast

**Chapter 5: Beauty and the beast**

"Are...you okay Applejack?" Twilight asked tentatively as her friend sat off to the side and vomiting in the bushes.

The desperation to reach the ruins had reached a fever pitch ever since Rainbow Dash got separated from the group leaving them to progress on their own. As a result they'd resulted to the teleportation spell hard recently, and while teleportation affected everypony differently Applejack seemed to be hit hardest out of all of them. She hadn't even been able to wait before making a beeline for the closest shrubbery, currently sounding like she was trying her hardest to heave herself inside out.

Of course it was a dumb question to be asking, especially right now, but she'd been delegated as the one to check on their sick friend as nopony else had the nerves to approach. But at least it seemed to be letting up finally with Applejack reduced to coughing and shaking.

"Ah'll be alright...jus' as soon as mah poor stomach quits spinnin' so much," Applejack panted and moaned as she stood back up again.

"I'm sorry Applejack, I didn't think teleporting would be so hard on you," Twilight apologized.

"Shoot Twilight, not like we have much options available ta us right now. All o' Equestria's under threat, can't let somethin' like a queasy stomach stand in our way o' gettin' ta where we need ta go," Applejack reasoned.

"Well right now you'll have plenty of time to get your stomach settled, I've gotta wait for my magic to replenish before we can perform the next jump," Twilight assured her, momentarily distracted by the commotion going on to the side with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy as Spike tried to get a fire going so they could better see, "I'd better go check on them."

"Sounds fine ta me," Applejack muttered and laid down on the soft grass of the forest floor to close her eyes and rest up.

Unfortunately for Applejack that rest didn't last very long. She could easily tune out the chattering by the others regarding the best way to proceed, or whether or not they should teleport the burning fire with them when they got ready to leave again. However she wasn't able to tune out the soft of the approaching hoofsteps, light as they may be. Hanging around so many ponies who you regarded as being your best friends, you tended to pick up on certain things like how they carried themselves when they walked. And by the light approach coming in her direction it just had to be Rarity as nopony else except Fluttershy was so quiet about travel.

Come to think of it she really hadn't seen Rarity since the last jump. She'd disappeared off into the forest as soon as she'd started being sick and hadn't been seen since, not even offering up any sort of explanation when she'd vanished. Cracking an eye open she sat the white unicorn standing before her, still wearing the stetson hat, her coat still as dirty as previous, an in her magical hold what appeared to be a sphere of water.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack asked as she lifted her head up.

"Feeling any better darling?" Rarity asked in a hopeful and polite manner, "I do apologize for running off like that, it's just that you sounded so..." she shuddered and grimaced at the thought, "anyway while I was gone I managed to find a small stream, and knowing how you were feeling I thought some fresh water might be in order," she explained.

"That's right nice o' ya Rarity, but how'd ya learn ta do that? Isn't yer magic related ta fashion?" Applejack asked as she stood up.

"It is but that doesn't mean I can't learn new applications if I think they might have some bearing on fashion. Twilight learned this when studying under Zecora to deal with Trixie and the alicorn amulet, and she taught it to me when I had the most delightful idea for a new dress," Rarity explained while in the process of getting caught up in her own little world. However she quickly cleared her throat and focused on what was at hoof, "anyway darling I figured you'd like something to get that dreadful taste out of your mouth," she stated, before quickly adding, "and don't tell me that an earth pony can tolerate the taste of vomit just fine."

"Not even an earth pony's fine wit' that," Applejack replied with a chuckle. She looked over the globe that was hovering before her, trying to decide how best to approach it, before just going ahead and taking a bite out of it as it was an apple. Under normal circumstances she would've taken note of how the water reacted to the sudden loss of mass by readjusting itself into a smaller form. However she was far more interested in the opportunity to rid her mouth of the vile leftover tastes and took the opportunity to swish, swirl, gargle and spit off to the side to accomplish that goal, "much appreciated Rarity, tha's much better."

"Think nothing of it darling," Rarity replied simply while keeping the remnants of the water globe together in case Applejack felt the need for more.

"Jus' one question though. If ya found a stream why didn' ya take a dip ta wash out yer coat?" Applejack asked as she took a few tentative licks at the water globe to soothe her dry throat.

"Well I certainly gave some thought to the idea but ultimately it just wouldn't be an option. The stream is far too small for anything resembling a proper bath and I fear trying it would just result in the dirt in my coat turning to mud and making the situation worse. No I'm afraid that it'll have to wait until we return to Ponyville for a proper bath," Rarity explained and sighed at the prospect of a real bath with all the necessities, like bubble bath solution, scented soap, scrub brushes, a real tub and actual hot water. Oh how she craved it right now, to be rid of all the dirt and mud she'd been through and was forced to wear because there were no available alternatives.

Applejack didn't really have anything to say in response to that, making her all the gladder for the floating globe of water in front of her that she was licking away at as it gave her something to focus on rather than the current silence.

"I don't wanna hear anymore about it!" Twilight yelled from across the clearing, startling Rarity and causing her to drop the remains of the water globe on the ground.

"What was that all about?" Rarity asked.

"Ah dunno. But ah reckon we should find out," Applejack replied and walked over to see what all the commotion was about.

"But Twilight," Pinkie Pie spoke up in a whine of a tone.

"No Pinkie don't keep asking me! I don't know why Rainbow Dash kissed me, I don't know why she chose to do what she did against Adunamai! I don't know and she's not here to ask so I _can't_ know! I can't know anything because she's gone! Do you understand Pinkie, Rainbow Dash is," Twilight paused in the middle of her tirade as her own words sunk in. Her anger was starting to wave and her composure was cracking, the tears threatening to spill again, "Rainbow Dash is...gone..." she choked out before breaking down and sobbing openly.

"Oh Twilight I'm sorry," Pinkie said quickly and moved to her friend's side to hug her and try to comfort her. It wasn't good to be Ponyville's most successful party pony and wind up making your best friend's sad.

"It's a'right Sugarcube, we're here for ya," Applejack said as she moved to Twilight's other side.

Rarity stood silently by Fluttershy and Spike, looking on at the scene and just shaking her head. Twilight's sadness was both understandable, and an accurate reflection of how they were all feeling right now over the loss of their comrade and friend. Rainbow Dash was gone, and while there was no way to tell that she was dead there was also no reason to believe that she was alright either. Nopony wanted to entertain the notion that the spirit of loyalty wouldn't be seen again, but each of them knew that in the back of their minds it was a distinct possibility that may have to be addressed at some point down the line. Those thoughts made everypony sad. But not everypony could cry like Twilight was right now. They knew that they had to be strong and soldier on if they were going to succeed and make their sacrifices worthwhile.

They knew that. But it didn't necessarily make it any easier to deal with.

"It's okay, Twilight, it's okay," Applejack whispered in an effort to calm their friend, "everything's gonna be a'right."

"No it won't," Twilight sobbed weakly.

"Poor Twilight is really taking this hard," Rarity whispered as she observed in silence with the others.

"Harder than you think. Remember before we came to Ponyville Twilight didn't have any friends. You girls were the first ones she ever made," Spike explained, knowing full well that the matter went a lot deeper than it seemed.

"Oh my...you're right Spike, I'd forgotten about that," Rarity replied.

"Poor Twilight," Fluttershy added sadly as the thought sank in fully of what her friend was going through.

Each of them could say that they understood what it was like to lose a friend, as each of them had done so over the years, that was just natural. But nopony could really say that they'd ever been in a position like Twilight where they had to confront the fact of losing one of their very first friends, or one of their only friends. That just made if all the more painful.

They stood around for who knew how long, silent except for Twilight's continual crying as her friends tried their best to console her, each of them taking turns hugging her and offering whatever words of comfort they had. And after what seemed like an eternity of misery the crying eventually gave way to the occasional sniffling as she relaxed more.

"We...we need to get moving again," Twilight sniffled and stepped forward in an effort to continue the journey onward.

There was a shared look between everypony as Twilight walked on ahead before they began following after her. None of them really believed that she was alright just like that, but then again what exactly could they do in a situation like this? They couldn't really call her out and trying to push forward or they'd never get anywhere on this mission. For the time being it was going to be necessary to just play along and try to support her, and hope she didn't wind up having a nervous breakdown.

Unfortunately none of them really knew what to say that wouldn't wind up setting Twilight off again. So a good portion of their journey wound up being in silence. That is until a commotion from Rarity arose in the form of her horn glowing and flickering, enough that the sudden change in the surrounding light alerted the others to it.

"Oh my," Rarity stated as she looked up at her own horn.

"What's going on Rarity?" Twilight asked, confused about what was going on.

"I'm really not sure Twilight darling. The last time my magic was acting up like this was when I was just a little filly. But that was also the first time I learned how to detect gemstones," Rarity explained.

"Gemstones? You mean there are gemstones around here?" Spike asked, his interests piqued now, "tasty, juicy, beautiful gemstones just waiting to be dug up?" he asked and licked his lips in excitement and hunger.

"Well it's entirely possible but I can't be certain. It's really intermittent and I can't get a definite reading on anything certain," Rarity explained as she looked around, trying to get a bead on the situation.

"We really don't have time for this," Twilight muttered and shook her head. They were in the middle of a crisis and everypony was focused on Rarity's gem finding abilities? She turned around ready to give them an earful, but before she could even open her mouth she was silenced by a massive roar coming from the south, "horse-apples..."

"Ya gotta be foalin' me!" Applejack stated in disbelief, unable to believe the very distinct possibility that Adunamai was back in hot pursuit. Whatever Rainbow Dash had done obviously hadn't worked for very long, but then again they all knew that was a possibility after everything that'd lead up to this point, "a'right let's double time it on outta here! Twilight is yer magic charged enough fer another teleportin'?"

"Not yet Applejack, I still need more time. Fifteen minutes...maybe ten," Twilight replied.

"Then we'd better get ta runnin' an' get the hay outta here," Applejack stated and took off at full gallop, the others not far behind her.

"Doesn't anything stop that horrible monster?" Rarity asked as they ran.

"If it did the princesses probably would've found it by now," Pinkie pointed out as Spike clung desperately to her neck to avoid being shaken and thrown off.

"We gotta remember the ruins, girls, the artifact is there. Princess Celestia put her trust in us to find the artifact and it's our only hope," Twilight panted. She was trying to stay focused, to not lose hope of success, but those horrible roars didn't do anything to help the matter. The violence that those noises suggested was possible was definitely _not_ something she ever wanted to give any consideration to.

They ran hard and they ran fast. They ran for far longer than anypony thought to keep track of. But eventually the end results were the same and it was just a matter of time before everypony collapsed, physically exhausted from exerting themselves so hard.

"I don't think I can go on," Twilight croaked as she laid on her side, seriously questioning whether her shunning of athletics had been a good idea at the time.

"My flanks are killing me," Rarity whined.

"Y'all ain't the only ones," Applejack panted. She was about to comment on how the mad dash north probably hadn't been the best idea, but she was silenced by another roar coming from the south. She didn't know how but it sounded even closer than it had before they'd taken off. Had Adunamai caught up with them already? "ah don' think we're gonna be able ta outrun that thing. We're gonna need some kinda distraction er somethin' to keep it occupied and whatnot so we got time ta get outta here."

"You mean like what Rainbow Dash did?" Fluttershy asked, absolutely horrified at the idea.

"Ah'm afraid so," Applejack replied and nodded simply, "y'all go on ahead and get outta here, ah'll stay behind an' slow 'im down fer as long as ah can."

"Applejack no!" Twilight yelled, finding the strength to stand now that there was talk of losing another of her friends in such a manner, "we're not leaving you behind like we did with Rainbow Dash, I'm not going to allow it!"

"Quite frankly darling I agree with Twilight, we're not leaving you behind to face that monster by yourself," Rarity stated before anypony else could voice their opinions, receiving nods of agreement from the others, "I'll stay behind instead."

"WHAT?!" was the group response; something that seemed to be happening far too often.

"But Rarity you can't stand up against that big meanie pants!" Pinkie stated.

"Pinkie's right, Adunamai's far too strong to fight, Rainbow Dash didn't stand a chance, neither did the princesses, what can you do?" Twilight asked.

"Really darlings your concern is touching and all, but I have no plans of going to war over this, merely to provide a distraction. I simply have to present myself as enough of a nuisance and lure that horrid Adunamai back south away from everypony else," Rarity replied with a disturbing air of collected cool about her, making her appear far calmer than the others despite the roars coming their direction.

"We can't let ya do that Sugarcube," Applejack stated, "Rainbow Dash tried bein' a distraction an' he still got through while she didn't. Tha' don' suggest much chance at success."

"Applejack dear I'm aware of that. But you know how Rainbow Dash can be, all ego and such. I on the other hoof am not plagued by delusions of grandeur and a need to impress others. Discretion is something I'm very good at and have no problem exercising," Rarity explained, "besides that I'm simply not cut out for keeping pace with an earth pony when it comes to hauling supplies. You're far stronger than I am as well as far more capable. It's best if you stay with the others."

"Surely there's another way...isn't there?" Fluttershy asked, before nearly dropping to the ground as another roar sounded in the distance, even closer this time.

"I'm afraid not Fluttershy. Someone needs to be a distraction to buy more time for everypony else. And being the pony of Generosity that would be me," Rarity explained as she used her magic to place the borrowed stetson hat back on Applejack's head where it truly belonged, "keep everypony safe for me alright?"

"Are you sure we can't change your mind?" Twilight asked, or rather pleaded. She was barely holding together with Rainbow Dash gone, she couldn't imagine how bad it'd be without Rarity there.

"Sorry darling but this is what needs to be done for the good of the group. Rainbow Dash was right, you need to be the one who gets to the ruins, you'll know what to do better than we will," Rarity replied and shook her head, "please don't worry. Everything will be alright."

It was obvious to everypony that no amount of discussion or pleading was going to change Rarity's mind. She'd made a decision and was intent on sticking to it no matter what. And if they kept standing around talking it over it'd all be for nothing. They had to go and they knew it, but that didn't mean they had to like it.

"Come back to us alive Sugarcube," Applejack told her.

"And don't take any dumb chances. Run away if you need to," Twilight told her as she tried to keep herself composed, "let's...let's get going e-everypony..."

"Twilight I'm...gonna stay behind with Rarity and do what I can to help out," Spike announced.

"Spike please not you too! I can't lose you I need you, what would I ever do without you?" Twilight pleaded. The loss of both Princess Celestia had been bad enough, and the loss of Rainbow Dash had been so painful and left her feeling uncertain of how much more she could take. But now Spike? "I can't keep losing ponies..."

"Hey Twilight it'll be alright, you don't need me as much as you think, I'm just an assistant. You'll be alright, you've got the others to help you out," Spike reassured her, cupping her cheeks in his hands to look her in the eyes, "you can do this and you know it. Princess Celestia wouldn't have made you her number one student if she thought you couldn't handle it," he reasoned.

"But Spike," Twilight started as tears began to fall again.

"We're all gonna be alright, Twilight, you just gotta believe it enough to get there. And you've gotta get to those ruins more than I do, you'll know what to do better than all of us," he told her.

"I reckon tha' Spike knows what's he's sayin' Twilight," Applejack stated, "we can't jus' keep standin' around an' flappin' our gums like this, we gotta get movin' an' fast!"

Twilight looked between her friends and back at Spike by Rarity's side. Logically she knew they were all right and making good points. But emotionally it was another matter entirely; the kind that made her wish she was still back in Canterlot and never sent to Ponyville in the first place.

"Please don't die," Twilight whispered before turning and running off to the north, followed close behind by Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy. Now it was just Rarity and Spike.

"Spike dear, that was a very brave and very touching display just now. And I thank you for staying behind with me. To be honest I wasn't entirely certain that I could actually go through with it on my own or if that was just horse-apples I was spouting for Twilight's sake," Rarity stated.

"Hey I couldn't just leave you behind to face Adunamai alone like that, it's...not my thing," Spike replied as he tried to suppress a blush while scraping the ground with his foot, "the truth is...Rarity...that I kinda-"

"I know Spike. I know," Rarity said and put a hoof on his shoulder, causing him to turn and look at her as she nodded.

"Really?" Spike asked, "so does that mean that you would-"

"If we get out of this one alive, yes," Rarity replied, "I promise."

There had been dreams like this. Many, many dreams that were happy in nature but always interrupted by Twilight disturbing his rest at the most inopportune time. Now here he was seeing his dream play out in real life and at the worst possible time. Life could be so cruel sometimes. Saying nothing he simply leaned against Rarity as she wrapped a foreleg around him and held him close, lowering her head to touch his and close her eyes. It would've been an otherwise perfect moment...until he felt the surge of unicorn magic shooting through her body and her uttering an excited squeal.

"Oh my!" Rarity exclaimed as the entire area suddenly became aglow with her magic. Her magic hadn't acted like this since she was a little filly and discovered her special talent in life, back when she'd discovered the boulder full of beautiful gems that were just perfect for the school play costumes. And looking around it was easy to see just why it was acting up, the entire area was flooded with gemstones! "There must be thousands here!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide in surprise and amazement.

"Yeah...and at a time when I'm too upset to even think about eating," Spike added and rubbed his belly. The distant but approaching roar of Adunamai just served as a reminder to him about the situation they were in.

"It's strange though. I know the image is distorted with them underground but something's not quite right. I've never seen gems like this before, they look rather sharp in nature, almost like..." she muttered to herself and then paused, a thought immediately came to her, "...Spike I believe I have an idea. We have to be quick and start digging, we've got to dig up as many gems as we can," Rarity stated.

"Huh? I don't get it Rarity, what good can gems do in a situation like this? I know they can be valuable but I don't think Adunamai is concerned with monetary gain," Spike reasoned.

"Oh trust me Spike he'll be concerned alright with what I have in mind. Now please hurry and help me dig them up, time is of the essence if this is going to work," she said and left it at that.

Spike really didn't understand the matter at all. But Rarity was determined about this idea and he couldn't really argue for why they shouldn't be doing it. With a shrug he started work at digging away, tearing through the dirt and the grass and whatever rock was in the way to get at the gems underneath. But while he was doing his best the number of gems being exposed was low.

"Oh dear, oh dear," Rarity mumbled as Spike continued to dig. He was putting everything into it alright but at the rate they were going they'd never make it in time, he was just one baby dragon afterall and the area was so big that it was hopeless. Unless... "hold on."

Taking a deep breath Rarity started concentrating, the glow of her horn becoming brighter, along with the glow of the area surrounding them. The ground was starting to be disturbed as she grunted, gritting her teeth as she concentrated hard, shutting her eyes tight as she strained and fought with all of her might. Finally with a strained and triumphant yell she succeeded as the ground gave way and the thousands of gemstones came flying up and out, surrounding them in a magnificent displayed and shone in the moonlight. With that she promptly fell on her flank and panted in exhaustion.

"Rarity that was incredible! This is incredible!" Spike said in an amazed fashion as he looked around at all of them. Long beautiful gemstones of every conceivable size and color floating about and gently drifting down to the ground on the dirt. He could eat his favorite food everyday for a month on these and he knew it. How cruel the situation they were in.

"You're far too kind Spike," Rarity panted as she composed herself, "I just hope that it's enough. If you see one that you particularly like I'd advise you take it now before it's too late."

"Really?" Spike asked in surprise at the prospect of getting to pick through all the treasures before him for something to keep, "wait, enough for what?"

"You'll see," Rarity replied just before another roar could be heard. Adunamai was getting much closer now and would be here soon, she could just feel that, "perhaps much sooner than we thought," she gulped. Spike didn't say anything in response, rather just hastily searching through the gemstones presented and snatching up a particularly nice looking one and quickly stuffing it into Rarity's saddlebag.

"He's getting closer. I can hear that monster's dreadful footsteps from here," Rarity stated. In the distance there was indeed a loud thundering echo of footsteps approaching. Adunamai was practically right on top of them by now, "get ready Spike," she said as she extended her magic to levitate the gemstones back into the air again.

"How?" Spike asked, confused as to just how he was supposed to get ready. However he never got an answer as another roar silenced any further communication. Glancing to the south he could see that they were no longer alone. Adunamai had found them.

"Greetings, Adunamai darling," Rarity began, before hurtling a particularly long and nasty shard of a gemstone at high speeds, slamming it dead into the left eye, causing the obvious reaction of recoiling in pain and covering the affected optic. She followed up with a barrage of gemstones being hurled forward in quick succession, crashing against Adunamai's form with great force, enough to impede his advancement and some even forcing him backward, all the while sparking against his carapace structure.

All Spike could do was look on in amazement at what Rarity was doing. This definitely gave a whole new meaning to the term food fight. All those delicious, tasty looking gems being used as ammunition to keep Adunamai at bay, and it was actually working; not that he'd doubted Rarity's plan from what he'd heard of it, but actually seeing it take place was a lot different than hearing about it. Adunamai really couldn't advance what with the constant barrage he was under, actually having to protect what must've been vital areas of his body with the less than vital areas providing shielding, and as long as their supply of gemstones held out this could likely be kept up indefinitely.

"Way to go Rarity, keep it up!" Spike cheered from the sidelines, doing his best to provide whatever moral support he could since there was little else he could do right now. And it seemed like a good plan of action, until suddenly everything changed. Adunamai quickly bolted forward through the barrage, making a beeline right for him rather than Rarity!

"Spike watch out!" Rarity gasped. Her focus was lost and the gems clattered to the ground as she, without even thinking on the matter, leaped to the side and body slammed Spike out of the way, shielding him from the attack but in the process leaving herself vulnerable to be nabbed by the throat and picked up off the ground, staring Adunamai right in the eyes, "oh you foul beast! I really do owe Applejack this," she said, hocking and spitting right in his other eye in the most un-ladylike manner possible. Adunamai's only response was to squeeze her throat and choke her.

Spike had been the unfortunate witness as everything transpired, watching helplessly as Rarity more or less sacrificed herself to save his life and now she was going to die, and him still being a baby dragon kept him from doing anything to the contrary. He'd just now gotten somewhere with Rarity and Adunamai was going to take that all away from him.

Like buck he was going to let that actually happen!

"Get your hands off of Rarity! She's **mine!**" Spike roared, an actual roar rather than an anguished howl. In a flash he'd crossed the distance, his fist connecting with what could only be assumed to be Adunamai's chin, sending him flying backward and breaking his hold on Rarity, letting her go free and breathe again in deep, ragged gasps.

She was near the point of unconsciousness when Spike had finally intervened and rescued her. Up until that point she really hadn't paid attention to anything that was going on around her, but now that she was free to breathe again she was quite aware of the fact that Spike was standing in front of her and...much bigger than he had been before. She'd seen rapid growth like that in him only once before and that had been during a period of intense greed at his birthday, and while she didn't have a clue what had fueled his growth this time she had no doubt that it would be bad.

"S-Spike?" she asked nervously.

"Nobody's going to hurt you, Rarity, I won't let them," Spike declared as he turned to look at her, before turning back to face Adunamai as he was getting up again, "buck off!" he yelled and punched Adunamai across the face again, sending him staggering back from the impact and Spike advancing on his position and spinning to deliver a hard tail swipe to the side that sent him flying and crashing hard.

It was Rarity's turn to helplessly witness events as they unfolded before her. Spike's size, strength and aggression had drastically increased and he was taking the lead in administering a beat down to Adunamai, even pressing on when she would've otherwise held back; like currently when he was on the ground and just starting to get back up. She was hardly the most battle experienced member of the group, but even she knew when it was wise to hold back and wait to see what events unfolded before responding. Spike however had rather just stomped over to Adunamai before stomping right on him to force him back into the ground again.

"Nobody hurts Rarity!" he roared and stomped on Adunamai again, and then a third time. However on the third time he found his foot firmly grabbed and the rest of him pulled off balance and toppled to the side. Now it was he that found himself on the receiving end of the beating. And Adunamai could hit far harder than he ever thought possible! Every punch earned an agonizing yell of pain and suffering, he cold feel his bones starting to crack through his thick scales.

And then a barrage of gemstones slammed into Adunamai's exposed back, bringing a pause to the beating.

"Unhoof Spike at once you uncouth monstrosity!" Rarity ordered and leveled another gemstone at his head. Simply because Spike was intent on protecting her didn't mean that she couldn't return the favor when he was in need, and right now he was very much in need. Whether or not Adunamai understood her words was up for anypony's guess. However he did release Spike and begin advancing on her again, responding far more casually to the incoming gemstones than before, more or less shrugging them off this time. "Oh dear," she gulped.

Adunamai had nearly been on top of her by the time Spike had managed to respond, grabbing him from behind with one hand and slamming him into the ground. His form had changed again and now he was considerably bigger, easily towering over Adunamai in height and build.

"No touch Rarity!" Spike bellowed in a much deeper voice than before. Holding onto one leg Spike effortlessly picked Adunamai up and swing him through the air, slamming him against a tree with enough force to crack the trunk in half. "Rarity mine!" he stated and slammed Adunamai back into the ground, easily pinning beneath one of his hands before proceeding to slam his fist into him with devastating force.

Rarity was now horrified as she watched, bared witness to the savagery and brutality Spike possessed right now and had no qualms with unleashing it. It was now she realized that _she_ was responsible for fueling his incredible growth and aggression, for whatever purpose. Had her acknowledging his feelings caused this to occur by making him become possessive of her? Was this a matter of nobility gone horribly awry? Was his efforts to protect her now based on sheer greed and intolerance for anyone else in the area? Would it end once they were reunited with the others and away from danger?

She couldn't bring herself to watch anymore as the display was making her sick to her stomach, the crunch of each fist fall resonating in her ears with disturbing clarity. This wasn't the charming little Spike that she had come to care for so much in Ponyville, this was nothing more than one savage beast violently attacking another for the purpose of simple dominance.

* * *

The...whatever kind of noise it was...ripped through the air with a disturbing resonance, enough to make everypony stop dead in their tracks in terror and crash to the ground in surprise. The noise was completely unlike anything they'd ever heard before, not even Adunamai's roars from its pursuit of them could compare. Making matters worse was the fact that nopony knew just where it was coming from! With that level it could just as easily be right above them or miles behind them. It could be anything, from anywhere, and they were sitting out in the open and vulnerable.

"W-w-w-what was that!?" Applejack asked as she tried to stop her body from shaking in terror.

"Something scary!" Pinkie yelled.

"V-very scary," Fluttershy added, no longer the most terrified member of the group.

"I don't know girls, I never heard anything like that before. But I really don't wanna hang around here and wait to find out," Twilight stated, "let's get the buck outta here!" she yelled and bolted, the others not far behind her.

"Twilight do ya reckon yer able to perform another teleport right yet?" Applejack asked.

"I think I could, Applejack, but what about you? Has your stomach even had time to settle?" Twilight asked inbetween breaths.

"Don' be worryin' about mah stomach none, let's jus' get the hay outta here, ah'll puke later when we're away from whatever that was, I don't wanna be anywhere near it," she stated.

The others were in similar agreement, that noise was far too terrifying to be in the same area as it. The terror caused by whatever that was would be enough to frighten an Ursa Major and make it leave its cub behind in order to save itself, and nopony wanted to know just what could scare an Ursa Major away.

"Hang on everypony here we go!" Twilight announced as her horn glowed, and in a flash they were gone, far up ahead and away from the source of their terror.

* * *

Rarity stared on in horror, desperately wanting to turn away and look anywhere else but straight on ahead, but her body simply wouldn't comply with her mind's demands. Instead she was forced to witness everything unfolding before her, every sickening detail of the ordeal.

Spike's fury, as well as his size, seemed to increase by the minute everytime she did something to distract Adunamai from him during a moment of vulnerability. He had finally reached the point where he who was the bigger of the two and could easily hold Adunamai in a single hand, which he'd done and then proceeded to use his teeth and tear Adunamai's right arm completely off at the shoulder before hurtling him into a tree and spitting out the severed appendage. The howl she'd been forced to hear come from Adunamai being torn apart was something she would never be able to forget no matter how hard she tried, she was absolutely certain of that.

She knew that the whole purpose of them staying behind was to buy the others more time to get further away and closer to the ruins, and currently they were doing that just fine, but ultimately at what cost? She knew that there was the distinct possibility that they might wind up dying here, but currently that almost seemed preferable to...this...

"Mine..." Spike growled as he stomped forward to give Adunamai another dose of a beating, his vocabulary growing smaller as he grew bigger and meaner.

"Spike!" Rarity screamed, unable to keep silent any longer, unable to watch the carnage and brutality her friend was inflicting so openly, "you have to stop this now, please! Please Spike, no more! You aren't some savage beast who kills, you're a sweet and gentle dragon who's my friend! And as your friend I'm begging you to stop this!" she pleaded.

Spike stopped in his path and looked at her, his eyes those of a wild beast bent on savagery. But as her words slowly, slowly sank in they softened considerably. "Ra...ri...ty..."

"Yes Spike it's me, it's Rarity. I'm your friend, remember? Remember all the good times we've had? All the fun we've had?" she continued once she saw that her voice was getting to him. Maybe it wasn't too late, maybe Spike wasn't too far gone to help. However she was so focused on her attempts at talking Spike down from his rage that she failed to notice as Adunamai rose back up and struck Spike while he was distracted, plowing his remaining fist into his abdominal region and completely knocking the wind out of him, as well as sending him toppling to the ground, moaning in pain, "oh no! Spike!"

Her eyes turned to Adunamai, filled with anger, with hatred for him and everything he was. Without even deliberating she grabbed a gemstone and prepared to hurtle it right into his vacant shoulder joint, but was stopped by what she saw. Tendrils of smoke and other matter had already started dancing and weaving together, growing and shaping into a brand new arm to replace the missing appendage. Only now was it beginning to make sense, why no matter what they'd tried Adunamai persisted. Princess Celestia's Supernova, Princess Luna and the moon rock, Rainbow Dash's barn buster, none of it made any difference as Adunamai could regenerate from what should've been an otherwise fatal wound. There was no hope for any of them, that was what she could feel in the pit of her stomach right now.

"This can't be," she whispered, her breath caught in her throat. The only thing that brought her out of her shock was the loud pain filled groan from Spike as he tried to move. Adunamai was upon him and preparing another strike. Rarity glared, the gem in her hold hurtled in the direction of his face, catching him off guard and making him stumble back, giving her the opportunity to leap forward, putting herself between the two, "I'm afraid I can't allow you any further. If you wish to harm Spike then you will have to go through me first," she declared. It was a foolish statement and she knew it full well. But she simply couldn't stand by and let Spike be hurt any further if she cold do something about it.

Adunamai seemed to accept what she said and swing a mighty fist at her, only for it to crush into a blue hued forcefield in front of her. Her specialty may have been fashion, but that didn't mean all she knew was fashion, which she was proving right now. Unfortunately it wasn't the same as it was with Twilight Sparkle who seemed to excel in magic in general. The strain of attempting to maintain the field was significant against Adunamai pushing onward with his assault and it was slowly but surely growing smaller and fluctuating. At this rate it wouldn't be more than a few seconds before it was gone and she was left vulnerable again.

"I'm sorry Spike...it looks like we won't be able to keep our date afterall," she apologized, even though it was likely he couldn't hear her now if he was in pain and unconscious.

Unlike the previous times before there would be no signal on the horizon to alert the others to the status of the fight. There would be no blinding flash or massive display from the south to alert them to what was going on. For Spike and herself they were to meet their end without any fanfare or announcement. Instead they were going to die quietly and painfully and the others would never know what happened, there was no denying it.

"Goodbye," she whispered as her weak attempt at a forcefield finally gave out, literally shattering to pieces before finally disintegrating, her body collapsing on the ground from the strain, weak and vulnerable to what would come, filled with the knowledge that she'd failed.

* * *

Rarity and Spike's music, Holding Fut For A Hero by Bonnie Tyler

Spike's music, Down with the Sickness by Disturbed


	6. Hard work and the last laught

**Chapter 6: Hard work and the last laugh**

Darkness, fear, worry and uncertainty, they were all present as they continued their journey north. They'd lost five members of their overall group in a period of about two days. Physically they were alright, emotionally they were stable, but mentally it was another story. Everypony was tired and exhausted, either running hard, teleporting far or just walking long, rarely stopping for an adequate period of time to gather their thoughts; but considering the loss of Rarity and Spike perhaps it was best not to dwell too long on such thoughts. Right now they were simply trudging along slowly and silently except for the commotion of leaves and grass being crunched, twigs being snapped, and what could best be described as unearthly guttural noises from wild animals hot on their flanks.

However it wasn't the roars of Adunamai chasing them that they had to deal with. It wasn't even the noise of the surrounding wildlife that seemed to be avoiding them as if magical intervention was at play. Rather it was the loud grumbling of Applejack's long empty stomach that they were faced with.

"Ah'm starvin'," Applejack stated and plopped herself down on the ground, "ah ain't movin' another step until we get somethin' ta eat."

"My hooves hurt," Pinkie whined and dropped as well, "what time is it? How long have we been walking?"

"That's a good question," Fluttershy stated and turned to face Twilight, "how long have we been walking since our last break?"

"Without the sun it's impossible to tell since the moon hasn't moved since Princess Luna last raised it. It could be hours. For all I know it might even be night proper," Twilight replied and looked up at the sky. She was in the midst of wondering how to go about getting the others motivated to keep walking when her own stomach let out a growl that threatened to rival Applejack's own, "maybe we should stop and take a rest," she finally admitted, earning a pitiful group "yay" from the others in response. She sat down next to the others, just now taking note of the weariness of her own body setting in with the rest. It was definitely going to be hard to get moving once they started out again.

"Twilight ah know we've asked ya this before, but how much further is it to the ruins?" Applejack asked as she and Pinkie started setting out what food they still had with them, what there was of it.

"I don't know Applejack, just as I didn't know the last time you asked," Twilight responded in an annoyed tone, "according to what Princess Celestia showed us the ruins are in a desert wasteland. So as long as there are trees around us I'd have to say it's still a long way off."

The others took note of the tone in Twilight's voice at being presented with the question. The more observant ponies had noticed a gradual but steady decline in Twilight's temperament and stability since the start of the journey, growing with each loss they encountered along the way. Nopony would say it but there was a wonder of how much longer she'd be able to hold it together if they kept experiencing losses like this. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash and now Rarity and Spike, they were really racking up in short order. They all knew Twilight was doing her best to stay composed and organized but that mask was starting to wear thin.

"Um...I think I'll just...go up and look and see if I can spot anything resembling desert terrain," Fluttershy said quietly as she put her food down and flapped her wings to bring her off the ground. Nopony objected and she simply took off and up above the treeline. While she did that the rest remained silent, munching on what food was before them, left to their own thoughts.

Until a loud commotion arose from Pinkie Pie that was completely unrelated to her stomach.

"I can't take it anymore! It's too quiet around here!" she stated and stood up, "it's just like back on the rock farm! No talking, no laughing, nothing but silence and rocks all day long! I can't take it anymore! I can't I can't I can't and I won't!" she shouted and hopped about furiously.

Twilight and Applejack were completely taken off guard by Pinkie's outburst and tirade, leaving them with their mouths hanging open in surprise. Most everything coming out of her mouth was pure gibberish as she hopped and stomped about in a massive ball of fury and emotional turmoil, before eventually collapsing and broke down crying helplessly.

"I don't wanna stand by and watch as all my friends go off and die one by one," she bawled, "I thought I lost all my friends once before when it was my birthday, I don't wanna live through that all over again only to have it be true this time around!"

This time it was Twilight's turn to approach and hug her crying friend to return the favor from earlier. She knew how Pinkie felt and it made her want to cry all over again, to share in her misery and lessen the pain. But if she did that she was afraid that there would be no stopping this time, and deep down she knew that they couldn't afford the reappearance of the depressed Pinkamena again. Pinkie was versatile enough to function under a variety of conditions, Pinkamena wasn't.

"Um...girls, we...may have a bit of a problem..."

For whatever reason there had been a brief pause in Pinkie's crying during which Fluttershy took the opportunity to speak as she came back down to the ground, drawing everypony's attention to her.

"What'd ya see up there Sugarcube?" Applejack asked, thankful for the interruption that was presented to them.

"W-well up ahead ahead there's another clearing or something that's devoid of the treetops. It's hard to tell how far exactly," she explained, "but a lot further south there's a fire burning, I think in the clearing where Rarity stayed behind..."

"A fire?" Twilight asked and stood back up, "if there's a fire going that means Spike must still be alive, who else could've set it? And if Spike's still alive that means there's a chance Rarity's still alive too, maybe even Rainbow Dash!"

"Really? You really think so?" Pinkie asked, suddenly perked up at the prospect of seeing her friends again, alive and well.

Applejack had to almost literally bite her tongue to keep quiet, being the representative of the element of honesty and all. A forest fire going on didn't mean that Spike and the others were necessarily alive -although it certainly meant a lot of other things and all of them bad- and she was pretty sure everypony realized that truth regardless of how they were carrying about. She was never one for fancy figuring, but if she had to hazard a guess she'd say it was a matter of denial. Rejecting logic and reason and whatnot to maintain some sense of hope no matter how slim because they needed something to hold onto in order to continue. And as bad of a liar as she was she still had to try and keep up the facade for their sake; but that didn't make it any easier.

She tried to tune them out and focus on her eating to soothe her stomach, but the food wasn't going particularly easy when it came to Pinkie talking about throwing a party over the safe return of their friends. Suddenly her appetite wasn't as cooperative as it had been a minute ago and she pushed her portion away. They were really pushing and testing her self control on the matter and she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out.

"Ah'm gonna scout on ahead," Applejack announced and stood up, feeling the need to get away from all this dishonesty for her own sake as it was quickly getting to the point she couldn't physically stand it anymore. If she didn't get out of there she knew she was going to burst and start yelling at them without any regard for their feelings.

"Wait a minute Applejack that's dangerous," Twilight spoke up, drawn back to the present at her friend's statement, "that's too dangerous. You can't see in the darkness out there, anything could happen and we'd never find you."

"Well wha' the hay would ya suggest ah do, Twilight? Sit here an' talk about our friends like we're gonna see 'em again jus' 'cause there's a fire goin' on back there?" she asked, her tone growing harsh at being denied the ability to leave at her own leisure, "ah can't jus' stand aroun' an' take part in some great big convoluted lie about them still bein' alive an' all!" she yelled and stomped her left hoof of the ground to emphasize her point. The logical part of her mind knew that this was wrong, that lashing out at them for trying to maintain some level of comfort was just wrong, but she was beyond the point of stopping herself now. The floodgates had been opened and all her honesty was going to pour out whether they wanted to hear it or not, "this ain't some fairy tale where there's gonna be a happy endin' ta be had jus' 'cause we want there to be one! We ain't gonna find 'em alive an' waitin' for us at the last page. They's dead an' there ain't nothin' we can do about it!" she yelled at them and stopped to catch her breath. It was only when she did that she noticed their shocked and hurt faces staring at her, like she was a monster of something. And right now she felt like a monster too. That hadn't been called for at all no matter how she was feeling, "...A-ah'm sorry girls, ah didn' mean ta say all that stuff," she tried to apologize, but knew full well that the damage had already been done and nothing was going to change that fact. All she could do now was hang her head as the others wept anew.

"You're so mean!" Pinkie shouted and galloped off in tears, leaving Applejack uncertain of where to focus her attention.

"Ah feel lower than a snake's belly right now," Applejack noted to herself. Honesty was fine but there was no need for her to stoop to cruelty like she had. Unfortunately there were no magic words coming to mind that would ease the sadness of the others. Now they were crying because of her and that made her heart ache awful, like somepony was trying to chop it with a dull axe.

Perhaps it was a fortunate development when a piercing scream erupted in the darkness and shook them all out of their thoughts in terror. They all recognized that scream, it came from Pinkie! She was in trouble and needed help.

"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight yelled and jumped up, her horn glowing brightly as a source of illumination, taking off at full gallop in the direction of the scream, followed closely behind by Applejack and Fluttershy.

"Pinkie where ya at!" Applejack called out to try and get some bearing on the situation and find their lost friend. Another scream further up ahead let them know that they were definitely on the right track and had to continue pushing on, "don' worry none Pinkie we gonna find ya!"

"Hurry!" Pinkie yelled in the distance, her voice filled with terror, "I can't hold on much longer!"

They ran as fast as they could, pushing their tired and aching bodies as hard as possible to close in on the source of the distress. They were so focused on where they were going that they almost missed where they were headed, which in this case turned out to be a sharp drop off the side of the cliff that they only noticed thanks to Twilight being there to light the way. Clinging to the side with her forelegs and barely having her head up over the ledge was Pinkie, desperately trying to keep from falling off the side.

"Somepony help me!" she screamed and struggled to hold onto something, anything no matter how small it was so long as it was sturdy.

"We've got ya Sugarcube!" Applejack called and dove to snag onto Pinkie's forelegs and hold her to keep her from falling any further. Fluttershy was next, taking off and swooping around and behind Pinkie to hoist her up until her back legs were back on the ground and she could scramble away from the ledge of the cliff and over to the closest tree, which she was in the process of hugging for dear life.

"Are you okay Pinkie?" Twilight asked. In response Pinkie was on her in a flash, hugging her with a strength no earth pony should rightly have and crying freely.

"Oh Twilight I was so scared!" she bawled, "I was running and didn't look where I was going because I couldn't see because my eyes were full of tears, and then I tripped and fell off the cliff and couldn't hold on and I was afraid I was gonna fall in and die and I'd never see any of you again and I don't wanna be away from any of you ever again!"

"It's alright now Pinkie," Twilight wheezed as she tried to wriggle some to loosen Pinkie's hold even a little, "we're alright now and nothing's gonna happen, we just have to calm down."

"Alotta stuff wa' said tha' didn' need ta be said back there. Ah'm...ah'm sorry abou' that Pinkie," Applejack said and hung her head, "ah didn' mean ta get ya'll upset and make ya run off an' almost get yerself killed in the process. Ah feel horrible 'bout that."

Pinkie didn't say anything in response to Applejack's apology. Rather she just looked at her with teary eyes before extending a foreleg -giving Twilight a chance to breathe in the process- and providing Applejack the opportunity to join in the hugging, which she was only too happy to do at this point.

"I just miss them so much," Pinkie sniffed, "I wanna see Dashie flying again and trying out for the Wonderbolts. I wanna hear Rarity complaining about how hard it is to keep her hooves clean and how Spike grumbles about having to dust the high up shelves in the library. I'd give up throwing parties if it'd mean they could come back again!"

There were no words uttered after that, just a lot of unrestrained crying from all members of the group, even the reluctant Applejack who found holding back the tears to be harder than trying to tend to the entire orchard by herself while Big Macintosh was injured, and once those gates were opened there was no way to stop what poured out other than to wait for it to end on its own. There was nopony around to serve as a distraction, nopony to shake them from their thoughts and sorrows and remind them of what they were after, it was just the four of them now. And right now that was all their world consisted of.

That is until a loud shriek from above scared the hay out of them, sending them into high alert as they looked around for the source of the noise. Another shriek and they all looked up and saw what was up in the trees and looking down at them; it was a phoenix!

"Is...is that Philomena?" Twilight asked as she looked up at the fiery bird looking back down at them with interest.

"It looks like her," Fluttershy noted and flapped her wings to bring her up to the tree branch where the phoenix sat perched, "are you Philomena?" she asked. The phoenix merely squawked in response to the question, causing Fluttershy to turn back to the others, "he says he isn't, but he's a friend of Philomena's and was sent on ahead to act as a guide."

"A guide? Really?" Twilight asked, her full attention focused upward now, "did Princess Celestia send him? is she still alive?"

Fluttershy looked back up to the phoenix, who seemed to understand Twilight just fine and relayed a response to her. "He says he doesn't know anything about how Princess Celestia is, only that he was told to be here and waiting for us so he could guide us over the canyon. Sorry Twilight," she replied.

"It's okay," Twilight muttered, knowing full well that it was foolish to be getting her hopes up just yet. She let out a sigh and mentally kicked herself before looking back up, "how big is this canyon and what's on the other side? Are there any dangers we should we aware of?" she asked. Again it was back to Fluttershy to act as their interpreter on the matter.

"He says it's over a mile across, and really, _really_ deep. Much deeper than he dares to go and see for himself..." she said, pausing as another squawk was issued, "and... just more forest on the other side."

"Wonderful," Twilight said to herself and shook her head, "alright tell him thanks for all his help," she said before turning her attention back to the others on the ground, who were now looking back at her.

"Wha's on yer mind Twilight?" Applejack asked, knowing that something was up.

"The fact that up until now we've been very lucky," Twilight replied and gestured her head to motion for the others to follow her back to where they'd set up their temporary campsite.

"Really? How so?" Pinkie asked, genuinely confused by Twilight's statement.

"Well a lot of work goes into teleportation to make it work right. You need a line of sight to know where you're going, otherwise you're simply traveling by distance blind and open to all kinds of surprises. The Canterlot library is filled with tales of poor ponies who have tried teleportation and met with...unpleasant fates," she said and grimaced at the memory of reading about those failed attempts and what had happened to those that tried, "up until now there's been too much tree cover for me to see where we've been going so it's all been dumb luck. Had I tried teleporting us at some point back there it's entirely possible we could've wound up in the middle of that canyon up in the air at what should've been ground level," Twilight explained.

"You mean we could've all been killed during those times?" Pinkie asked, suddenly very afraid of the idea.

"I'm afraid so Pinkie," Twilight replied and nodded. Pinkie was silent after that, which was probably for the best as Twilight noticed her face taking on a disturbing shade of green, if she dared open her mouth she'd probably be sick like Applejack earlier.

"Suddenly ah ain't so hungry anymore," Applejack moaned.

"I'm really not either. But we haven't eaten in hours and we really need to keep up our strength if we're going to keep moving, otherwise we risk collapsing at a crucial point," she explained.

"I'd rather just go to sleep and let my poor tummy rest," Pinkie whined.

"Yeah ah could go fer some shut eye too," Applejack added.

"Sleep isn't a luxury we can afford right now. We've gotta..." Twilight began, "oh who am I kidding? Let's just get back to where we set up and get some rest, I'm too tired to even keep thinking..."

* * *

The fire that had been lit earlier in the evening was little more than embers now, giving off barely a glow as they slowly burnt out. Resting nearby was Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy, the four of them huddled together for warmth and comfort as each of them was the only source of such for another. Twilight was currently sandwiched between Pinkie and Applejack, with Fluttershy resting atop the lot of them, her wings spread out as far as possible to provide an extra bit of warmth. Other than the sound of their combined snoring all was quiet around them.

Until a horrible shriek from above sent them all toppling over each other in terror.

"Wha' now!?" Applejack asked as she looked around, just knowing that Adunamai had caught up with them again.

"Up there, it's Philomena's friend," Fluttershy announced and drew their attention upward to the phoenix flying overhead in a frantic motion, squawking and shrieking loudly and obviously upset, "he says it's coming this way."

"Jus' great, nothin' stops that Adunamai," Applejack fumed, "le's get outta here girls!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Pinkie announced and scooped up Twilight on her back once more before she could protest, taking off with Applejack as Fluttershy flapped her wings as hard as she could to keep up with the rest of them.

"Pinkie! The canyon!" Twilight warned, wanting to avoid a repeat of earlier in the evening.

"I remember the canyon silly," Pinkie replied without even looking back to address her.

The race back to the canyon was short compared to last time as they at least knew where to head; a small blessing really, although that didn't prevent Pinkie from having to spin herself to a stop, nearly throwing Twilight off in the process. Fortunately Twilight was quick to right herself.

"Alright everypony get in close, we're about to leave," Twilight announced as her horn began to glow.

"Twilight," Applejack spoke up, drawing the unicorn's attention to her.

"What is it Applejack?" Twilight asked, before focusing on her eyes. That look in her eyes, "no...no, no, no, Applejack please not you too!" she pleaded upon realizing what that look meant.

"Ah'm sorry Twilight but this is somethin' I gotta do for the group. Ya told Rainbow Dash ya can get further with fewer ponies to take along with ya in yer teleportin', and the more I get teleported the sicker it makes me. So ah'm just gonna set this one out and wait here. If Adunamai shows up ah'll do what ah can ta keep 'im from catchin' up ta the rest o' ya," she replied calmly.

"No!" Pinkie shouted, "you can't do that Applejack I won't let you!"

"Pinkie-" Applejack stated but was quickly interrupted by another outburst from the pink party pony.

"I'm staying behind with you! I'm not leaving you alone, I can't! I'm not losing anymore friends and living with that misery another minute! If you go then I go too, and there's nothing you can do to make me do otherwise!" she bellowed as fresh tears threatened to spill all over again.

"Ah swear Pinkie you is one o' the stubbornest ponies ah ever did meet before in mah entire life," Applejack sighed, "but if tha's wha' ya really wanna do then ah can' stop ya."

"Pinkie! Applejack! Please don't do this! We need you," Twilight pleaded.

"It'll be a'right Sugarcube, things got a way o' workin' out the way they's supposed ta," Applejack reassured her and placed a hoof on her shoulder, "Fluttershy we're countin' on ya, get Twilight ta those ruins."

"B-but I'm not strong enough to do this on my own," Fluttershy stated with renewed terror, "I'm not brave enough, a-and... I'm just not strong enough," she stammered, only to be silenced as Pinkie put a comforting hoof on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Fluttershy yer one o' the strongest pegasi ah ever did have the pleasure o' intereactin' with, ya jus' don' give yerself enough credit and whatnot. But when the chips're down you can come through jus' fine," Applejack reassured her, "we need ya ta do this so we can stop Adunamai. It's not just us that's countin' on ya it's all o' Equestria. More than tha' it's every single critter in all o' Equestria. Ya gotta be strong for them or they might be next for Adunamai, an' ah know ya'd hate yerself if ya let tha' happen."

Futtershy remained silent as she listened to Applejack's words. She knew she couldn't let down all those poor defenseless animals, it went against everything she believed in, it went against her cutie mark! Slowly she nodded her understanding. "I'll do it..." she finally said.

"We don't need to do this, please! My magic's restored enough I can teleport us all across the canyon and we can get going as a group, please!" Twilight pleaded and clung onto Applejack and Pinkie, unable to bear the thought of losing anymore friends in such a senseless manner.

"It's a matter o' bein' our decision to stay behind Twilight, ya got's ta understand that," Applejack replied and did her best to hug her hysterical friend, "now listen Twilight this is important and whatnot, ya'll got's ta git goin' now before Adunamai comes. This ain't no debate open for any fancy discussion, this is an order, you and Fluttershy git outta here! 'Cause if you don' git goin' ah'm gonna have to buck ya up an' ah don' wanna be doin' that," she explained, her tone harder than before to try and get Twilight to understand, "now ya two git goin' now, an' don' be wastin' your time lookin' back understand?"

She knew that there was nothing she could say that was going to get through to either Applejack or Pinkie and it tore her up inside. She knew she was about to lose two more friends and she was helpless to stop it. She could try teleporting them along with herself and Fluttershy but as emotionally torn up as she was right now she wasn't even sure she had enough focus for just the two of them, much less the two earth ponies that stubbornly refused to go. There really was no choice in the matter except to do as told. With a reluctant nod of understanding Twilight cast her teleportation spell, and in the blink of an eye and a puff of smoke she and Fluttershy were gone, leaving Applejack and Pinkie behind by themselves.

"So now it's just us I guess. Just you, me and the grass," Pinkie noted.

"Ah guess so," Applejack replied and turned to face the south and wait for Adunamai to announce his presence, "ya know ya really didn' have ta stay behind wit' me like that. It ain't like ah'm a filly who can' take care o' herself. But thanks fer stayin' anyway."

"You're welcome," Pinkie replied in a relatively cheerful tone, before turning to face Applejack in pure seriousness, "but I really did have to stay. I'm not big on death but I'd rather die than watch all my friends die for any reason. I can't bear the thought of another friend dying and me having to be alive to feel their loss, it hurts too much already with Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Spike."

Applejack didn't say anything in response, she just nodded in understanding. Losing friends hurt and they'd each lost too many already and the hurt was just getting worse. Like Pinkie she didn't want to wait around and see who was going to die next before her.

"Hey Applejack? Are you scared?" Pinkie Pie asked as she stood shoulder to shoulder with her friend.

"Who me? Naw ah ain't scared one bit," Applejack replied and spat to the side before refocusing her attention south, "why on Equestria would ah be scared?"

"You know you're a terrible liar Applejack," Pinkie stated, earning a shared laugh between the two, "so what're we gonna do when Adunamai shows his ugly face?"

"We're gonna hit 'im hard an' where it hurts. Make 'im focus on us enough to leave Twilight and Fluttershy alone for as long as possible. Simple as all that," Applejack explained.

"It's too bad we don't have some of your cupcakes left, we could try and poison him," Pinkie replied and laughed, earning an amused frown from Applejack and a hoof bump to the shoulder.

"Aw come on now ya said ya weren't gonna bring those up no more," she grumbled, "it's too bad we can't jus' stampede 'im over the side of the cliff an' be done with it."

"Yeah..." Pinkie replied and nodded in agreement. She paused and remained silent, far longer than what was normal for her, "Applejack? Do you think we're going to come out of this alive?"

"...Ah don' know Pinkie, maybe," Applejack replied before catching sight of the look in Pinkie's eyes that suggested there was more to the question than just that, "Pinkie? Wha's on yer mind?"

"Well..."

* * *

Despite being a slow pace Adunamai's approach was no less intimidating or outright terrifying. The thundering of his footsteps and slow trudge, along with the blood curdling roars that were unleashed when quarry was located and tracked, was not something that anypony ever wanted to be on the receiving end of.

So perhaps it was a matter of surprise when a rock came soaring out of nowhere and smashed the beast right in the face.

"Woohoo! You nailed him Applejack, right in the ugly puss!" Pinkie cheered from up ahead where she and Applejack waited with a pile a rocks at their disposal.

"Was there ever any doubt 'bout that happenin' Pinkie?" Applejack asked, "get another ready!"

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie replied and tossed another rock into Applejack's path where she bucked it with her hind legs, sending it flying at insane speeds and smashing into the recovering Adunamai's shoulder. Followed by a rapid succession of other rocks flying downrange to bombard the target.

On the other end of the field Adunamai was not unaffected by the impacts, being forced to adopt a more defensive position against the incoming barrage. However this was only short lived as his arms were thrown down as a mighty roar was issued and he charged towards them.

"The plan worked Pinkie, now let's get the hay outta here!" Applejack yelled and took off in the opposite direction, Pinkie cackling with a perverted amusement and following not far behind, the heavy sound of Adunamai's footfalls unfortunately also not far behind them, "maybe it worked a little too well, ah think he's gainin' on us!"

"That's what we want!" Pinkie replied as they continued to gallop at full speed, drawing him further into the Everfree Forest toward the canyon, "I see it up ahead! On the count of three we break! One, two-"

"-Three!" Applejack finished and veered a hard right while Pinkie veered to the left, each taking off in a different direction mere feet from the mouth of the canyon.

Adunamai had been practically on top of them the entire time, lagging only slightly behind them and just out of reach. When the broke and separated he could see them, but he couldn't react quick enough to effectively stop before being halfway past the lip and in desperate need of correcting balance to avoid toppling over in to the darkness below.

"Have a nice trip!" Pinkie stated as she came up from behind.

"See ya'll next fall!" Applejack finished as they stood and shoved Adunamai from behind, sending him toppling over with a howl that just _had_ to be based on fear from the sound of it.

"We did it! We did it! We did it!" Pinkie shouted excitedly and jumped for joy, joining forelegs with Applejack as they danced about in a circle.

"Yer right there partner, we got 'im righ' where we wanted 'im," Applejack added before having to separate from Pinkie as she was getting dizzy from all the spinning.

However the celebration was short lived as their excitement was interrupted by a commotion down below. They looked at each other before peering over the lip of the cliff and saw that Adunamai was not at the bottom of the canyon but rather hanging onto the side of the canyon wall and steadily dragging himself back up with sharp claws being anchored right through the rock!

"Bucking hay," Pinkie Pie stated, resulting in Applejack doing a double take at her, "it didn't work!"

"Ah guess we shoulda known considerin' Princess Celestia failed at stoppin' 'im," Applejack stated, "looks like we's gotta try somethin' else."

"Don't worry Applejack I've got a few tricks up my sleeves; or at least I would if I had any sleeves to wear but since we're not at a party and showing off Rarity's dresses I don't have any sleeves to hide anything up," Pinkie replied in true Pinkie fashion.

"Well don' worry none, ah don' think he'll be carin' all that much," Applejack replied just before Adunamai's claws appeared above the surface, forcing them to scatter and regroup, "fer somethin' so big he sure be mighty quick."

"Not as quick as us though," Pinkie pointed out as they watched Adunamai climb back up onto solid ground and set its sights on them, "ready for the next plan?"

"Always am," Applejack replied.

They took off towards Adunamai again as he started to advance, with Applejack spinning around to deliver a bucking kick to the shins to stumble him...and just barely ducking in time as Pinkie spun around to swing around a head-sized rock tied to her tail that almost hit her as it slammed into Adunamai's chest with a great bit of force. Pinkie was definitely random in every sense of the word; hay she probably defined the word! However she didn't have much time to think on it as Pinkie just kept spinning around, swinging that rock with all her might and beating Adunamai with it in rapid succession. Considering how fierce she was doing it she really had to get the hay outta there before she got hit herself.

"Woohoo!" Pinkie squealed with delight.

All Applejack could do was watch as Pinkie spun about over and over, swinging her rock with zeal, until Adunamai was finally able to pluck it out of the air on the neck swing, allowing him to effortlessly lift Pinkie up off the ground and swing her about before slamming her against the ground, her body breaking against the hard surface and...exploding in a mess of confetti and streamers in every direction, the sound of a party horn going off in the process? What the buck?

"Party planning pony secret ninja technique: confetti body replacement double!" Pinkie announced, now resting atop Adunamai's shoulders, before slamming her forelegs down on his head and sending him toppling to the ground, "I've been waiting ages to pull that one!" she said and leaped up in order to plant all four hooves on Adunamai's head and jump about, slamming into him repeatedly.

Applejack was left in stunned silence as she watched, still trying to figure out just how Pinkie had pulled off such a trick. However she was quick to recover and joined Pinkie in jumping on Adunamai's back while he was down. With any luck maybe they'd be able to hammer him into the ground like a tent steak.

"Four feet good, two feet bad! Four feet good, two feet bad! Four feet good, two feet bad!" Pinkie chanted as she jumped about, planting her hooves on Adunamai's head and back in a repeated manner. Applejack just shook her head and figured that trying to figure out Pinkie was more work than it was worth.

Despite the amount of force they were using to pound Adunamai in the ground -and it really was an incredible amount, them being highly motivated earth ponies and all- it didn't seem to be enough as he was able to easily cast them off and get back onto his feet again, the low guttural growl sounding like he was really, really mad right now. There wasn't even a pause before Pinkie was the targeted one for retaliation, something that was being carried out with an intense amount of speed. Watching Adunamai and Pinkie in motion was like watching black and pink blurs dancing about at the speed they were moving. As fast as Adunamai could move Pinkie could simply move faster and duck, dodge, bob, weave and just outright avoid his attempts at either grabbing onto or smashing her into the ground. Applejack made an attempt but she couldn't even get a helping hoof in edgewise the way they were leaping about for fear of simply getting in the way of things. However she quickly wished she had as she was forced to watch helplessly as Adunamai finally managed to land a blow to Pinkie and knock her down, before violently stomping on her back.

"Pinkie!"

Pinkie groaned from her spot underneath Adunamai's heel. However it wasn't a groan of suffering as she soon displayed as she managed to stand back up, using all four legs to push herself off the ground and raise Adunamai's foot along with herself. "That really hurt you big dumb meanie! Get the buck off me!" she yelled and bucked, throwing his balance off and tipping him over.

Applejack was stunned as she watched everything occur. She always knew Pinkie was strong for an earth pony -especially after she showed she could pick up all five of her friends at once, which she'd done at the birthday party they threw her- but that was just plum ridiculous. And added to the ridiculousness of it all was how she was now jumping up and down on his chest, shouting things that she never, _ever_ thought she'd hear Pinkie actually saying out loud. Things that made her want to pull her hat down over her ears rather than continue listening.

There were certain utterances that no self respecting resident of Ponyville would dare to utter, either in the light of day or the dark of night, certain obscenities that were best left unsaid when in a group due to what their meaning was, but Pinkie seemed to pay it no mind as a steady stream of curses emerged from her mouth at such volume they were clearly audible even owning the clanging and clunking of her stomping about on Adunamai's chest, causing Applejack's cheeks to actually turn as red as her cutie mark apples were.

"-And on top of it you smell bad too!" Pinkie finished and slammed a rear hoof into Adunamai's face, grinding it against his eye before jumping off and panting for air.

"Pinkie...jus' where did ya learn language like that?" Applejack asked once she could speak again, "ya'll better hope tha' Princess Celestia didn' hear non o' tha' or she'll be havin' yer cutie marks on her wall."

"Yeah...well...he was a real meanie mcmeanpant and got me really mad," Pinkie offered up as an explanation inbetween her pants for breath. However she was nowhere near done being angry, but she was easily too winded to continue her tirade. Instead she had to settle for simply turning and spitting on Adunamai's head, "no party for you!" she finished and kicked him in the side of the head before turning to storm off.

The whole time Adunamai had remained motionless other than occasional twitching, just laying down as Pinkie vented freely, sharing her misery and anger without regard to who would hear and what they'd think, not caring about her happy party pony reputation in the least. At the time there was absolutely nothing to her but pure unfettered rage. But now that it was over, with nopony to hold him down he was on the move again, picking himself up off the ground to continue on.

"Don' he ever quit?" Applejack asked, utterly dumbfounded at everything that Adunamai had managed to survive so far. Blown up, moon dropped, rainboomed and who knew what else! Was there no end to this? Solemnly she turned to face Pinkie, "is ya sure ya wanna go through wit' this?" she asked. Pinkie said nothing and simply nodded, "well then le's get ta crackin'!" she announced, putting on the bravest face she could.

Once Adunamai was fully upright he was quickly tackled by Applejack and Pinkie, shoving his closer to the edge of the cliff. Against the strength of two determined earth ponies it was hard to resist and that was being found out really quick as two trenches were being cut into the ground beneath them. As they shoved harder toward the edge it became quite clear that they weren't intent on simply bucking him over the edge, which became all the more apparent once the reached the end and leveraged him over the side, all the while hanging onto him.

Screams echoed the canyon all the way down, which was short as once again Adunamai managed to cling to the side of the wall with extended claws, Pinkie and Applejack clinging to his legs for dear life. Paying them no mind he began to climb back up the wall towards the edge of the cliff. Applejack looked over at Pinkie, who looked back at her and only nodded. They both knew where this was going, and they were going to face the oncoming with bravery rather than terror.

"Ya'll ain't getting away tha' easy!" Applejack stated.

"If we're going over the side then you're coming with us!" Pinkie added as they both began to try and shake Adunamai's hold on the canyon wall. But despite the amount of effort they were putting into it leverage simply wasn't on their side, and their weight wasn't doing much good. Even if they could get their hooves against the canyon wall it didn't do much good as they just kept getting pulled upward.

"He's almost at the top!" Applejack shouted, knowing full well that once Adunamai no longer faced the risk of falling into the canyon they'd be the ones focused on.

Suddenly a loud squawk of a shriek sounded from above, causing everypony to look up and see the phoenix nosediving on their position and slamming into Adunamai's face, scratching and clawing and pecking away with a great ferocity. Despite the resiliency to harm Adunamai still needed to get the bird out of the way to see where to proceed, which meant taking a hand off the canyon wall to swat at it.

"Now's our chance Pinkie! Pull!"

The distraction was momentary, but in the end it was successful. With only one clawed hand to hold onto the side of the cliff Adunamai's grip couldn't overpower their combined efforts to pull him loose and away from the wall, sending them all falling into the canyon together.

* * *

Pinkie Pie and Applejack's music, Hero by Skillet


	7. Nurse Fluttersy

**Chapter 7: Nurse Fluttershy**

To say that Fluttershy was worried would be an understatement. She was in no way an expert on medicine or matters like that, but she still knew enough to know that Twilight wasn't in very good condition right now.

She'd lost track of how long ago it was that they last teleported but she knew it'd been a while ago. And since then they'd been running at full gallop before eventually slowing to a walking pace as exhaustion started t set in. And sometime during that time Twilight's breathing had become more labored, like she was panting -no scratch that, make that more like gasping- for air at times. Her pace was slow and uneven, her head was drooping, and her eyelids seemed to be very heavy. And despite knowing little about medicine or healthcare she knew that this was more than just simple exhaustion, she just didn't know what exactly?

"Twilight? Are you alright?" she asked softly.

"...Huh..." Twilight asked after a pause, glancing over at Fluttershy through tired eyes.

"Are you alright? You...you really don't look all that well," Fluttershy replied.

"Oh...yeah I'm alright, I'm just starting to get tired," Twilight paused, "and thirsty...and kinda hot..." she continued before sitting down on the ground, "I just need to rest a minute...I tell you it wouldn't be so bad if that hot sun wasn't beating down on us right now..."

"I guess you're right, the sun is rather..." she paused upon remembering that it was still night out, just as it had been for what seemed like days. There was no sun to speak of, just the moon and the stars, "Twilight? What sun?"

"What sun? Princess Celestia's sun of course. Way up there shining down on us with its magnificent light...and not so magnificent heat," Twilight replied as she gestured upward to where the moon currently sat.

Fluttershy frowned and walked over to where her friend sat, placing a foreleg against her forehead, and frowned more when she noticed how warm she was. "Look at me Twilight," Fluttershy instructed. When Twilight finally responded and made eye contact with her she could more clearly see that her eyes weren't just tired but also glassy. And while the moonlight was hardly the best to see by she could still make out that her friend's face was currently flushed and hot. There was little doubt left now, Twilight was definitely sick; the only question to be had was with what?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Twilight's continued panting and licking her lips, a hoarse whispering about being thirsty as she used her magic to retrieve her canteen from her saddle bag, ready to guzzle down its contents...if there were any to be had that is. Turned upside down and shaken vigorously meant it was bone dry, which made sense when she remembered Twilight had been steadily drinking away since they left Applejack and Pinkie at their insistence.

"Thirsty," Twilight muttered and continued futilely shaking at her canteen as if there was a residual trace of water just waiting to be dislodged from some buried partition.

"It's alright Twilight, I'll go find us some water. You just stay here and rest some and I'll be right back," Fluttershy said as she guided her friend back into a sitting position. Twilight muttered something incoherently but seemed to understand what she was saying. Nodding she took to the skies to try and find a source of water for her sick friend.

"Water...water...if I were water where would I be?" she asked herself, "if I were a tree I know where I'd be, but what about water?" she continued muttering to herself as she looked down below to try and spot some shimmering of water in the moonlight. Unfortunately looking down meant she wasn't exactly watching where she was going and crashed headfirst into something that was in her way, causing her to yelp and hold her head in pain.

"Oww," she whined and rubbed her head. What had she bumped into up here in the air? She already knew it wasn't any sort of animal or a tree, the consistency wasn't right. When she looked up she realized that it was a cloud. Or more specifically a storm cloud, the kind that the Everfree Forest was prone to as there was no pegasi weather service to regulate them, "oh excuse me," she said before remembering it was just a cloud she was talking to, not a butterfly or some other animal. And then she remembered she was out here looking for water for Twilight, she didn't have time to...on the other hoof, now that she thought about it a little more, "it might work," she said to herself and looked over the cloud.

She hated to admit it but she really didn't know much of anything about managing weather, what with her cutie mark being about animal care. But she did know a couple of things that Rainbow Dash had tried to teach her, like how moving storm clouds required more care than simply busting clouds in general as they were more sensitive and could go off prematurely if jostled too hard. So if she wanted to get this cloud back to Twilight she had to go about moving it carefully.

"Easy now," Fluttershy said, more to herself than the cloud as she got behind it and attempted to push, taken by surprise by the weight it had to it. Weight meant it contained rain, which was what she wanted right now, "everything's alright, we're just going on a little trip to see a friend in need," she said in a reassuring voice, as if the cloud would be able to understand her and why she was currently pushing it along.

She wouldn't deny that pushing along a heavy rain-laden cloud was hard work, harder than she was accustomed to. The fact that Rainbow Dash and the rest of the weather team made it look so easy didn't help matters any. But she did have a sense of pride as she could eventually see Twilight again right where she was left, drawing doodles on the ground with the edge of her hoof and still looking miserable.

"I'm back Twilight, and I found us some water, lots of water," Fluttershy said as she guided the cloud closer to the ground until it was just overhead.

Twilight looked up from whatever she'd been doing in the dirt, seeming to scrutinize the cloud through cloudy eyes as if she couldn't understand what it was. "That's a cloud."

"A _rain_cloud though, and a heavy one," Fluttershy said as she hopped off the cloud and gave it a tap to get the water flowing. However nothing happened from such a gentle touch and the cloud remained firm. She gave it a second tap, but the results were still the same. Frustrated and concerned at the same time she outright punched the cloud with more force than she intended. This time around rain did start to fall in a gentle sprinkle. Twilight wasted absolutely no time in lapping away at the cool, refreshing water, not even caring if she had to stick her whole head in to get at it.

While Twilight drank Fluttershy set the canteens into place so the rain could refill them, although it was necessary to hit the cloud again when the rain came to an unexpected stop, at which point Twilight proceeded to drink away again. This process continued four or five more times until the canteens were filled, and several more times until Twilight had managed to get her fill from the trickles that had been made available.

"Oh that's so good," Twilight said as she licked her lips and shook her head to get the excess water out of her mane.

Fluttershy was glad that Twilight at least seemed to be feeling better, but it was unlikely simply getting a refreshing drink of water was all she really needed; she'd been drinking water for hours so far and it hadn't helped yet. However her thoughts were interrupted as Twilight went to stand back up but quickly became uneasy on her hooves.

"Are you okay Twilight?" she asked even though she had every reason to know that she wasn't.

"Yeah I'm fine Fluttershy, it's just so really hot right now," she panted, and continued doing so in an effort to cool herself down even a little.

Now she had real cause to frown. She had no doubt now that Twilight was suffering from a fever, she just didn't know from what. Further travel wasn't going to do her any good, and surely Adunamai couldn't cross the canyon in any short length of time, right? But even if he could that didn't mean they could just move right now.

"Twilight you need to rest, you're sick," Fluttershy told her.

"I'm not sick, I'm as fit as a fiddle...hey Fluttershy did you ever wonder where that saying came from, "fit as a fiddle?" A fiddle doesn't have to be all that fit to actually play just so long as it's in tune. And who's in charge of determining the fitness of a fiddle and how do they actually determine it? If it just has to be in tune shouldn't the phrase be "in tune as a fiddle?" Then again it doesn't really roll off your tongue like "fit as a fiddle" does. Speaking of which have you ever had something actually roll off your tongue? I tried to do that once with a marble when I was a filly but it just fell off. I kept trying but I wound up swallowing the marble and after that I kinda lost interest in trying it ever again."

Fluttershy blinked as she heard Twilight's rambling, starting to feel a little creeped out at how much she resembled Pinkie Pie right now, almost like she was channeling the spirit of the party pony.

"Twilight!" she interrupted, stopping Twilight in the middle of talking about how she once tried the literal interpretation of another saying, "you're sick and you need to rest. And I'm not letting you move anywhere until you start feeling better. Is that understood?" she asked and looked at her intently.

"Wow Fluttershy, for a minute you looked like Princess Celestia," Twilight stated, "can you do anypony else? Can you do Big Macintosh? I just love how he says "eeyup" the way he does," she continued, unfazed by Fluttershy's seriousness.

"Twilight I'm being serious!" Fluttershy all but screamed, "you're sick, you've got a fever, you're delirious. We are not going any further until you get at least a few hours worth of rest. Do you understand me?" she asked, now all out giving Twilight "the stare" to try and get some sense into her.

"...Okay Fluttershy, you win, we'll rest," she finally said during a moment of clarity, earning a sigh of relief in response.

"That's a good girl. Now you just lay down and close your eyes while I try and figure out something to help lower that fever of yours," Fluttershy should her, deeply grateful that Twilight didn't see fit to argue with her on her instructions and just comply, more or less dropping to the ground. Now she just had to figure out something that would help with the fever. What would her mother do in a situation like this? Her mother? Now that she thought about that it gave her an idea. But first... "Twilight? I hate to disturb your rest but do you think you could do one last thing and cast your cloud walking spell one more time?" she asked as gently as she could.

"Hm?" Twilight asked as she looked up, more or less completely out of it, "wha? Alright," she mumbled as her horn glowed briefly, "there, all done," she replied cheerily before dropping her head back down again.

Fluttershy was glad Twilight had enough focus to perform the spell as that made her work a lot easier. It meant she could tear off a piece of raincloud and gently apply it to Twilight's forehead and it would actually stay in place, acting like a cold wet compress. As she did so Twilight shivered initially, before settling down with a relieved sigh at the cool sensation.

"You'll feel better Twilight, I hope," Fluttershy muttered as she stroked her friend's mane. Now what else had her mother done for her when she had a fever? Hydration? Check? Cold compress? Check again, but what was she missing? She remembered her mother saying something about needing to keep warm so as to not develop chills but how could she...then she remembered back at the last rest stop, how they all huddled together, maybe that would work. She walked around beside Twilight and laid down next to her and extended her wing outward and draped it over her. At first it didn't seem like anything was wrong but it was just a matter of time before Twilight started showing obvious signs of discomfort and being hot, "I know it's not very comfortable Twilight, but it's for your own good. Just try and hold on please," she whispered. Twilight just whimpered in response in her feverish state but kept her eyes closed.

Eventually Fluttershy knew that Twilight was fully asleep even if it was an uncomfortable sleep. With the unicorn out like a light that gave her the option to move onto the next step of her plan. Slowly and carefully she retracted her wing and tucked it back into its place at her side, before standing up and gently slipping her forelegs around Twilight's midsection. Twilight shifted uneasily but didn't seem to stir. As gently as she could Fluttershy unfurled her wings and flapped them until she was able to lift them both off the ground, before moving over and placing her down on the cloud. Almost immediately the unconscious Twilight let out a contented sigh at the cool sensation the raincloud provided.

"You just rest easy Twilight, and leave everything to me," Fluttershy said in a reassuring tone before dropping down.

Trying to move a cloud on its own was difficult for her, even moreso when a non-pegasi pony was currently on top of it. But Fluttershy was quite determined to continue onward and get them further along. She would make sure Twilight got to the ruins and discover the remnant and bring about Equestria's survival yet again, thus ensuring all the poor defenseless animals in the world were taken care of at the same time. And all the while Twilight could rest and recover and not exert herself any further. She just needed to get her wings flapping a little harder.


	8. Beware the quiet ones

**Chapter 8: Beware the quiet ones**

She was warm, but not entirely hot or uncomfortable. The bed she was resting on was so comfortable and inviting and was practically calling to her to go back to bed. She would be only too willing to do so...except her brain was telling her that her bed was _never_ this soft. And even if it was she shouldn't be in it as she hadn't had access to her bed for what must've been days. Her head flew up and her eyes shot open as she looked around, trying to make sense of what was going on.

It was still dark and the moon and stars were still out, that made plenty of sense. But what made less sense was the fact that she was currently laying on a cloud, a tuft of cloud on her forehead, and Fluttershy curled up against her and fast asleep with her wing draped over her like a small towel being used as a blanket. Now she was confused.

"Fluttershy wake up," Twilight said and prodded her shoulder. Fluttershy just mumbled and rolled over, brushing a soft blend of feather and fur against her in the process, "Fluttershy come on it's important, something wrong here," Twilight said and prodded further, finally being rewarded by Fluttershy's eyes fluttering open.

"Oh good morning Twilight," Fluttershy said and yawned, "do you feel better since you got a little nap?"

"Fluttershy I..." she paused and thought, "yeah I do Fluttershy, thanks for asking. Now I've got a question, what're we doing up on a cloud?"

"Well I knew how important it was that we got north and reached the ruins, but you were really in no condition to travel last night. So while you rested I set you down on the cloud and pushed it along. But then you started shivering so I had to stop and try to keep you warm so you didn't get sicker. Then when you seemed to be warmed up enough I started to move the cloud again until you started shivering again, and I just kept this up until I got too tired to go any further, so I found us this cloud to rest on and I've been keeping you warm since then," Fluttershy explained, "I'm glad you're feeling better though, I was really worried."

"You did all that? How long was I unconscious?" Twilight asked.

"Um...I don't know really, you were so miserable I didn't want to disturb you so I just let you sleep as long as you wanted. I guess...maybe a day?"

A day? A _day_!? She'd been unconscious for an entire day!? Immediately worry and fear began coursing through her veins about the predicament they were in, fears relating to Adunamai and the others, if there still were any others. The only thing that kept her from going right off the deep end was the fact that Fluttershy had told her that they'd been moving despite their unconsciousness.

"So where are we now?" Twilight asked as she tried not to let her worry become too obvious.

"I don't really know for sure, just further north. By the time we got here I was so tired I forgot to look at the terrain," Fluttershy replied.

"It's alright Fluttershy," Twilight reassured her and put a foreleg on her shoulder. At least they weren't where they were yesterday, there was a lot to be said for that. But still she was curious about their exact location and decided to peer over the side of the cloud and find out for herself. When she looked down something didn't look...quite right in the moonlight. The forest was so...so...wait that wasn't forest, "we're here Fluttershy, we're here!" she exclaimed excitedly, causing Fluttershy to peer over the side of the cloud as well, "this is it! This is the wasteland region Princess Celestia showed us, the area where life doesn't flourish! That means we're getting closer to the ruins now. You did it Fluttershy!" she exclaimed and pulled her friend into a hug.

"Um...yay," was all Fluttershy had to offer up as Twilight started shaking her enthusiastically.

Twilight was far too excited for words at this point. All their suffering, all their sacrifices, the end to the journey was finally in sight. They'd crossed over from the Everfree Forest to the wasteland region and that meant they just _had_ to be on the threshold to victory.

Fluttershy watched wordlessly as Twilight released her and jumped about on the cloud, a happy laugh coming from her for the first time in many days. She would've been happy too, if it weren't for the fact that Twilight was dangerously close to the edge of the crowd and at risk of falling over if she weren't careful.

"Um...Twilight..." she spoke up as she tried to get her attention but to no avail, "Twilight," she repeated a little louder, her friend closer than ever, "Twilight!" she finally yelled.

Twilight snapped out of her own daze, but in the process missed what she was doing and her front hoof slipped on the very edge of the cloud, sending her toppling over and desperately clutching to the cloud for dear life. "Help!"

Fluttershy was at her side in an instant, wrapping her forelegs around her midsection and lifting her back up onto the cloud again where she was safe, just as she'd done with Pinkie earlier on.

"Are you alright Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yes, thanks to you...again," Twilight told her, "that was really close. Maybe we should get down from here before something else happens," she suggested.

"That would probably be a good idea," Fluttershy agreed. She was just getting ready to pick Twilight back up and gently lower her back to the ground, but that was quickly interrupted by the sound of the roar coming from the south, "oh dear...not again..."

"How'd he get across the canyon?" Twilight asked herself as she withdrew the binoculars from her saddlebag to get a better look at the situation, "this is really bad Fluttershy, Adunamai just keeps on coming. Even though his pace is slow and he only has two legs he can keep up like it's no challenge at all. I don't know if we can teleport far enough yet to avoid getting caught," she stated.

"Get down," Fluttershy whispered and pulled her friend down onto her stomach, "hide."

The two laid down flat, pressing themselves against the top of the cloud to avoid having any part of their body stick out above the top that might give their position away. Even though they couldn't see anything from this angle they could certainly hear the thunderous approach, as well as those horrid roars that seemed to have no end to them.

"He's getting closer," Twilight whispered as she kept her head low, "I don't know if hiding's gonna do any good."

"I'm scared," Fluttershy whispered back, "and...I really need to use the little pegasi's room..."

The sound of Adunamai's slow but thunderous approach grew louder as it got closer, before coming to a complete stop, confusing the both of them. Had this hiding spot worked and Adunamai couldn't find them? Were they safe from harm up here so far off the ground?

"Is he gone?" Fluttershy whispered.

The answer to Fluttershy's question came quick and hard as Adunamai quickly appeared above the cloud line with a mighty leap, both fists drawn back and then swung forward to crush them. The two screamed before scattering as the cloud was dispersed from the impact before Adunamai fell back to the surface.

"I think the answer's no," Twilight replied as she clung to a wisp of cloud to avoid falling, "we need to leave and now!"

"But I thought you said we couldn't teleport yet," Fluttershy pointed out.

"We don't have much choice in the matter. We either teleport now and hope for the best or we're done for just staying here," Twilight explained and began to focus her magic.

"No wait there's another way," Fluttershy interrupted and came around behind Twilight, wrapping her forelegs around her midsection, "hang on tight."

"Is this really gonna work? How fast can you fly with a pony in tow Fluttershy?" Twilight asked.

Fluttershy was just about to give a reply but was quickly interrupted as Adunamai made another leap upward and just narrowly missed grabbing onto them. Rather than getting a response Twilight was treated to a first pony view of just how fast Fluttershy could fly with a pony in tow; _really_ fast! It was one thing to watch a pegasi like Rainbow Dash flying overhead at top speeds, but to actually feel the wind in your face trying to pull the corners of your mouth around to the back of your head was something entirely different.

"This is incredible!" she managed to yell, a mix of excitement and terror all at the same time. She wanted to try and calculate out the speed that Fluttershy was traveling at but that would prove quite difficult as it was hard even to keep her eyes open at this point. For now she'd just have to settle for what was currently in front of her and not within her area of control.

Down below Adunamai observed the two fleeing high above head. No further effort was wasted in trying to snatch them out of the air, rather he simply proceeded to walk forward in the direction they were traveling.

* * *

"...Twilight..."

They'd been flying at top speed for who knew how long, covering an extreme distance is very short time, Twilight being stunned the entire time at just what Fluttershy was capable of when she tried. At times it seemed hard to believe she was the same pegasi who was afraid to contribute to the weather team's tornado to get rain to Cloudsdale because of her weak wing power.

But despite those hidden depths it was obvious Fluttershy wasn't without her limits and she was now having trouble maintaining her speed. And that trouble was only increasing as her speed decreased. She'd started out quite strong but now they were barely moving at the speed of a strong breeze.

"Twilight I'm sorry, I can't keep going," Fluttershy apologized.

"You did just fine Fluttershy, you don't need to be sorry," Twilight reassured her. Looking down at the terrain it was hard to tell just how far they'd gone as the wasteland all pretty much looked alike. But at least Adunamai was nowhere to be seen, "just set down anywhere and we'll rest."

Fluttershy nodded weakly, gently gliding down to the ground and releasing Twilight before setting down herself. She couldn't remember the last time she'd ever flown that fast or that hard before and she was feeling exhausted, her wing muscles burning terribly. The sand and rock underneath her hooves didn't feel all that good either, being both cold and rough and uncomfortable, but at least they could rest now.

"It's really strange," Twilight began as her horn glowed, "I'm not picking up any noticeable traces of magic out here, certainly nothing that would belong to a remnant along the lines of what Princess Luna described. Surely something so powerful would just be radiating with a detectable signature..." she mumbled to herself, "unless...maybe Princess Celestia cloaked it so it _couldn't_ be detected. That has to be it! It's the only thing that would make sense, that way nopony could find the relic unless they knew exactly where to look. That makes perfect sense!"

Fluttershy wasn't paying attention to half of what Twilight was talking about right now. All she wanted to do was rest even if just for a little bit. Maybe if she sat there quietly she could close her eyes for just a little bit.

"...what do you think Fluttershy?"

Hearing her name mentioned snapped Fluttershy out of her tired state and brought her full attention back to Twilight who was looking at her for an answer.

"Oh, sure? Whatever you say, Twilight," she replied, entirely unsure of just what she was agreeing to, but not wanting to ask for clarification and admit she wasn't paying attention.

"Good then we'll do that," Twilight replied as she levitated Fluttershy up and deposited her onto her back, letting her ride much like Spike did whenever she would transport him, "you rest and leave the traveling to me."

"Are you sure? I'm not too heavy am I?" Fluttershy asked.

"You're fine Fluttershy, don't worry," Twilight reassured her and began walking.

For so long Fluttershy had been accustomed to being the one that needed to transport others to and from various locations. This was the first time she could remember somepony else actually reversing the situation and transporting her. It was definitely unusual, but certainly not unpleasant. It was...nice for a change.

However it wasn't more than a few minutes before the newfound opportunity to relax and ride came to an end as Twilight showed increasing signs of exhaustion until she finally dropped to the ground panting.

"Sorry Fluttershy," she panted, "I'm not as athletic as the others. And I don't want to be rude but you're a bit heavier than Spike. I guess I overestimated my physique."

"Oh it's alright Twilight," Fluttershy reassured her as she climbed off her back and stroked her mane. She had certainly appreciated her friend's efforts and kind gesture, that meant more to her than any long travel as a passenger.

However the moment was not long to last. Despite _knowing_ full well what was behind them the exercise in friendship had allowed them to temporarily forget about what was coming. But they were soon reminded as the roars began anew, indicating that Adunamai had gotten closer and was aware of their presence.

"Just a few more minutes, is that really too much to ask?" Twilight moaned as she fought to stand back up again, "we gotta get outta here before he catches up to us again."

"Um...Twilight," Fluttershy said hesitantly, "I think I'm...gonna stay behind..."

"WHAT?!" Twilight screamed in response, her exhaustion melting away by this announcement and replaced by full blown panic. This couldn't be happening, there was no way on Equestria that could could be happening to her, not again! "no, no, no, no, no Fluttershy please not you too! You're the only one that's left, you're the only friend I still have in all of Equestria, you can't do this you just can't, you'll die if you try to face that monster, I can't take losing you too!" she pleaded and desperately hugged onto Fluttershy for dear life.

Too many ponies had already been lost so far and she couldn't stand to lose another one, she just couldn't. She'd been forced to watch helplessly as one by one each of her friends opted to stay behind and were killed off. First her teacher Princess Celestia, and then Princess Luna, then Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Spike, Pinkie Pie and Applejack, she couldn't take it if Fluttershy was gone too. She couldn't lose every last friend she ever had on this journey.

"Twilight," Fluttershy said in a soothing and gentle tone, "it's alright, everything's going to be fine. I'm not going to try and fight Adunamai, I'm not even going to try and distract him. All I'm gonna do is stay behind so you can teleport on ahead by yourself to get the most distance out of your magic. I'll be right behind you, just flying along nice and safe and I'll catch up with you later on. There's no reason to be taking me along with you when I can make the journey easier than an earth pony could," she reassured her, replacing the desperate cling from Twilight with a warm and gentle hug.

"I can't lose you too, I can't," Twilight pleaded as new tears began to fall, panic giving way to sadness.

"You won't lose me, I promise. I'll be right behind you the whole time. I'll meet up with you when you finish teleporting then I'll pick you up and we'll go on from there while you magic recharges," Fluttershy said as she stroked her mane gently, "you've just gotta be brave and take the first step. Can you do that for me?"

"I-I'll try," Twilight replied shakily as Fluttershy finally released her, "I love you," she said as she looked down, before hugging Fluttershy again.

"I love you too Twilight, you're my friend," Fluttershy replied and returned the hug, letting her friend rest her head on her shoulder. Truth be told she really didn't want to break up the touching moment and see her friend go, she'd much rather go along with her. But if she did then Twilight's magic would be strained carrying the both of them when she could get so much more distance just by herself, "it's time Twilight. You've gotta do this by yourself."

Twilight nodded sadly, knowing that Fluttershy was right. She had to do this not for herself but rather for all of Equestria.

"I'll see you really soon Twilight," Fluttershy said and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead to the right of her horn, before finally pulling back and hovering in the air, "are you ready?" she asked.

"No," she admitted, "but I'll try anyway."

"That's the spirit Twilight," Fluttershy told her.

Twilight concentrated, summoning her magic for another teleportation spell, her horn glowing brightly. She gave Fluttershy one final pleading look before closing her eyes and disappearing in a flash and a puff of smoke, moving further on ahead.

"I'm sorry Twilight," Fluttershy said sadly as she looked down, before looking behind her toward the south, "I know I promised you that I'd be right behind you, and in a way I am, but this is something I've got to try, for everypony's sake," she said, both to herself and the now absent Twilight, before turning around and flying back the direction they'd come.

She had promised Twilight that she wasn't going to fight Adunamai, and she really had no intention of doing that. Rather she was going to try something that was radical in thought; she'd try and talk to him. Surely there had to be some reason there, if she could convince a dragon to find another cave to nap in she could do this...right?

"I hope this works," she said to herself as she flew along, thinking over what she was going to say or at least try to say.

She really had no idea why she was doing this, being so brave really wasn't something she was accustomed to. But then again she was doing this for somepony else who was counting on her. Twilight needed her, and so did all the little animals around Ponyville and the rest of Equestria. At present time Adunamai was a threat to all of them and that was scary...but what if she could change that? So far nothing had been tried but violence and more violence. Maybe Adunamai was like the manticore and just needed a little kindness. Maybe Rarity was right about love being an option.

However her thoughts were interrupted at the sight up ahead, that of Adunamai approaching at a slow and menacing pace, a peace that she could easily exceed without even trying, but she couldn't think about that right now, she had more important matters to tend to. She continued on her approach before finally stopping at a slow hover, waiting for Adunamai to finish closing the uncomfortably short distance.

"Um...Adunamai...sir," she spoke nervously as she hovered there. She grew nervous as Adunamai came to a stop and looked at her with those piercing eyes, "I...I didn't come here to fight you or anything, I didn't come to even try and fight you. I was just hoping that maybe we could sit down and...just talk?"

No response from Adunamai to signal an understanding or comprehension. But also no hostile move against her, maybe this could actually work. Taking it as a good sign she slowly descended and sat down on the uncomfortable sandy ground.

"I don't know what all you went through, but I'm sure it must've been terrible and I'm really sorry. I don't claim to know why Princess Celestia and Princess Luna did what they did, I really wasn't there so I only know what they told me. I don't really want to question them, but I'm certain that there were alternatives if they'd just thought to look for them. Did anypony try talking to you first? Ask if things could be worked out without violence? Without banishment? Without loneliness?" she asked, "did anypony try and become your friend? Do...do you know what it's like to be friends? Did you have any friends? I could be your friend if you'd like," she finally proposed. Adunamai continued remaining motionless, "I know that you're not a monster without mercy, there's no such thing, everypony has mercy if they're just given a chance."

No movement. No display of hostility or violent gestures, no nothing, just a motionless stance as she was regarded. She didn't know what to make of it.

A rustling off to the side broke her focus. Something was in the bushes. However it seemed Adunamai took notice as well. The next thing she knew a vicious looking barbed talon shot forth from his hand into the bush at lightning speed, before it was reeled back in by an inky black tendril, bringing the source of the noise into his palm.

Fluttershy looked in horror as the thing was perched in Adunamai's grip, it was a tan baby bunny rabbit, impaled but still alive and crying out in misery. Adunamai seemed to regard it in the same manner she was regarded, before bringing his other palm up and down and in one swift motion crushing the poor innocent animal, before grinding his palms together, the sound of snapping bones and squashed organs being painfully audible to her ears, the image permanently seared into her mind. She couldn't believe that such horror was even possible. That poor bunny had done nothing to anypony to warrant such...such...depravity, there was absolutely no possible justification for what she just witnessed.

She really had no idea what happened next, only becoming aware of her surroundings after her hoof had connected with what must've been Adunamai's jawbone, the force of the impact snapping his head back and making him airborne briefly before crashing back down to the ground like a rag doll.

"How dare you...HOW DARE YOU!?" she bellowed, feeling herself being overcome by an unfathomable rage at what horror she'd been forced to bear witness to. She'd been wrong about Adunamai, there was no kindness or mercy to him...no to IT...no nothing that would serve as a redeemable quality. Anything that would kill a baby bunny just like that was...was...something so horrific just shouldn't be allowed to live!

She screamed and tackled Adunamai to the ground as it was starting to get back up again, rearing on her back legs before stomping and slamming her hooves down against its chest and face in an uncontrollable fury, sparks beginning to fly at each clanging impact against his hardened carapace. Reason and logic were gone, replaced by nothing but intense hatred and a desire for vengeance, for retribution, for death! She was going to murder Adunamai!

No...no murder was wrong, she knew that, in the back of her mind where logic was pushed she knew that fact, she knew that murder was never justified. But this wasn't murder, no this would be defense of a third party. All the helpless animals all over Equestria were at threat of imminent harm if Adunamai was allowed to survive, it was for them that she was doing this. She'd kill Adunamai herself for the sake of them.

"You don't deserve to live!" she screamed as she slammed both of her hooves down at the same time, jolting Adunamai's body from the force of the impact. She reared up a second time and slammed down on its chest, making its limbs jump. A third slam yielded a sickening crack from the carapace, radiating fractures moving outward from the source of the impact.

A forth slam would've likely yielded vulnerable flesh underneath but she never got the opportunity as a nasty swipe sent her fleeing the scene, acting on instinct more than conscious thought. However she was far too furious, far too consumed by her own long suppressed rage to consider retreating or any other rational course of action. Instead she moved in to attack again, grabbing hold of Adunamai's leg with her forelegs and taking off into the skies dragging it right along with her.

"There's no place for monsters in this world!" she exclaimed as she quickly picked up speed, dragging Adunamai far above cloud level and then further still, higher and higher into the sky until they couldn't possibly be seen from the ground.

"Princess Celestia was right for burying you! And I'm going to put you right back where you belong!"

It was a sudden stop that Fluttershy made high above the ground, and just as quick as she stopped she began to spin herself about in a circle, thus spinning Adunamai in the process, making entire rotations very quickly. She continued far longer than she cared to think about, building up greater and greater momentum with each pass before finally releasing Adunamai, sending it hurtling towards the ground at blinding speed, crashing into the ground with unbelievable force.

Fluttershy was left panting and gasping, completely winded but entirely unsatisfied. In her mind Adunamai hadn't suffered enough yet. She could think more clearly than a few minutes ago, but that bit of logical comprehension had done nothing to slake her. If anything it just made her all the more furious as she could now comprehend the fact that it was physically impossible to derive total satisfaction no matter how hard she tried to strike it. She could shatter her hooves against its carapace in the process of gaining access to his soft innards and it still wouldn't make any difference. It was so bucking unfair!

She was tired and exhausted, unaccustomed to being such a violent force, it was so...out of character for her, something she never wanted anypony to see and for good reason. She needed to touch back down on the ground, time to reorganize and gather her thoughts and think of what to do next.

"Surely I can catch up with Twilight now," she said to herself as she descended below the cloud level. However those thoughts were dashed when she could once again see Adunamai on the ground, and in the process of climbing out of the crater that had been cut by the impact. "Oh dear," she said when she realized the matter was far from over.

Now she knew she couldn't move on and catch up with Twilight. If she did then Adunamai would simply continue pursuing them and, as she remembered Twilight to Princess Luna, eventually catch up with them. Whether she liked it or not she was going to be in this for the long haul. She was going to have to stay behind and face the monster alone if Twilight was going to have any chance at making it to the ruins and finding the remnant.

And judging by how Adunamai's movements seemed unimpeded by any sign of injury or even discomfort it didn't look like this was going to be easy. But Twilight was counting on her even if she didn't realize that fact, just as she'd counted on all of them up 'til now. So many ponies had valiantly sacrificed themselves so they could get her further along. So many friends had been lost...

And not just friends but who knew how many innocent creatures up until now? That baby bunny had just been the most recent victim of Adunamai, but what about before? How many...how many other helpless woodland creatures had it killed for no reason? Just that thought alone was driving her back into a palpable state of rage and making her see red. So many little innocents lost...

"You monster!" she screamed and went into a flying tackle.

* * *

Fluttershy's music, Monster by Skillet


End file.
